260 Going on 16
by SciFiFantasyWriter1
Summary: Harry Potter travels back in time hundreds of years after having lived an adventurous life so that he can be with the woman he lost too soon. She was his best friend. To save her he will defy time and re-shape the entire world. Powerful-Harry & Intelligent-Harry. 5th Year Fic. Advanced Technology and Technomancy. Harry/Hermione pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 1

July 2nd 1995, Little Whinging, Surrey, Earth…

In the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive a dark tear appeared in the fabric of spacetime. Out of that tear a figure stepped. But that figure was not visible. That figure had learned caution the hard way. Invisibility was a useful tool for caution. Harry concentrated and the room began to reshape itself. Two identical comfortable cushioned chairs appeared facing each other as the room got larger on the inside. Small spheres materialized in the room summoned from Harry's bottomless pants pockets. These spheres were portable ward generators which would keep anyone on the outside from seeing the changes on the inside. This included the likes of Mad Eye Moody. Harry sat down in one of the chairs and stared at the bed where his younger self lay.

While looking over at Hedwig, Harry said, "It's hard to believe I was ever that young, Hedwig."

The snowy owl replied, "Hoot."

Harry smiled fondly at the snowy owl that was staring at him in fascination. Even though he was over 260 years old Harry looked no older than his mid-twenties. He was physically much taller than younger-Harry and definitely better muscled.

"Wake up," older-Harry told his younger self while casting a spell to aid in that effort.

Younger-Harry came awake with a start and saw a figure sitting near his bed.

"Dad," sixteen year old Harry Potter said as he wakes up, thinking maybe he is still dreaming.

The light brightens and the figure before Harry resolves itself a little bit more. He can see bright green eyes the same color as his own. Those eyes hold power and wisdom greater than Harry saw in even Dumbledore.

"No Harry," older-Harry replied. "I am you from the future."

Younger-Harry was speechless for a moment before reaching for his wand.

"This is some sort of trick from Voldemort," younger-Harry said while pointing his wand at the powerfully built man before him.

"No, you know that isn't true. If I was Voldemort or sent by him you would be dead already," older-Harry pointed out.

Younger-Harry was silent for several moments. The words the older wizard spoke rang with truth and resonated as such within the younger mage. He slowly lowered his wand but didn't yet put it away.

"Ok…assuming I really have gained the ability to travel back in time when I reach your age…why are you here?" Younger-Harry questioned.

"I am here to make sure a wrong committed by Ronald Weasley never occurs. Left unchecked his actions will lead to both a very good life and very bad life for you. If he is allowed to commit this wrong you would be forced to live 244 years without Hermione Jane Granger," Older-Harry stated.

Younger-Harry's mouth dropped open as he tried to process all the important facts from that statement.

"What does Ron do to Hermione?" Younger-Harry questioned.

Older-Harry sighed and replied, "I had forgotten how slow I was on the uptake at your age." Before the younger version of him could protest the older wizard continued. "Ron will kill Hermione in your seventh year of Hogwarts in a fit of jealous rage after you two admit your feelings for each other. Why else would I search for 244 years for a way to save Hermione."

The question was rhetorical. Younger-Harry wanted to deny the accusation of Ron's actions but something inside of him told him the redhead was perfectly capable of such a heinous crime. The fact that Hermione shared the feelings he had slowly been developing for her made his heart jump with joy.

"How do we save Hermione?" Younger-Harry asked.

"_We_ don't save this Hermione, Harry," Older-Harry corrected. "If you accept my offer, and I think you will because it's a very good offer, _I_ will save this Hermione. Another version of Hermione will be waiting for you in an alternate timeline."

"What is an alternate timeline and what is your offer?" Younger-Harry asked.

"At this point you have never heard of the Deathly Hallows but I will enlighten you briefly. The three Peverell brothers came to a river and managed to figure out a way across it. Supposedly Death appeared to them and for their cleverness offered them each an object of power. One brother got a wand that was unbeatable known as the Death Stick or Elder Wand. Another brother received a stone known as the Resurrection Stone which could summon the real spirits of the dead and not just a ghost. The third brother received an invisibility cloak which could hide the user even from Death himself. The rest of the story is immaterial but know that the cloak your father gave you is the cloak from the legend. In my life I obtained all three Hallows and have mastered them. One of the abilities I have gained as a result is a mastery of time travel. I can even move my physical age to any point in my life and can do so for others," older-Harry explained. "What I am proposing is that I will send you back in time so that you can save our parents. I can regress you to a much younger age and you can grow up with our parents or I can leave you the age you are now and you can still save our parents. I have several plausible cover scenarios and everything you need to back them up."

The two versions of Harry talked for awhile and in the end younger-Harry chose to go back staying the same age. The cover scenario he chose to use was that he was a Harry Potter from a different universe because once he changed the past that was essentially what he would be. Older-Harry didn't exactly blame his younger self for that. The idea of regressing in age and going through puberty a second time wasn't exactly appealing. After he sent the younger version of himself back to the past Harry set to work straightening up the room the way he liked. Hedwig hooted approvingly when her cage turned into an absolutely decadent owl habitat.

"You deserve it, girl," Harry told his owl as he rubbed her affectionately. "I need you to take this letter to Hermione and stick around awhile waiting for her response."

Harry fastened a pouch onto Hedwig's side with a sticking charm that made it so the satchel could be removed either by a person or Hedwig herself without having to reapply the charm. The pouch contained a large supply of owl food and treats for Hedwig that were charmed to stay fresh. This was in case she didn't feel like hunting. Hermione could feed the snowy owl. There were also charms to monitor the owl's condition and exact location and a portkey to bring her back to Harry if she was injured. As the owl took off, Harry laid down on his now very comfortable and lavish king sized bed.

"I bloody well hate this part," Harry whispered before closing his eyes.

A shimmering blue field of energy surrounded the mage as he focused on the powers he had mastered only fifty years previously. The Deathly Hallows each gave their bearer tremendous powers but when the Hallows were combined they gave a power greater than each Hallow was capable of bestowing by itself. Contrary to legend the Hallows were not given by Death but by a Sumerian necromancer named Colron. Colron had learned how to cheat death eons previously and had constructed the Hallows out of materials that were no longer available naturally in the world. Colron had spent centuries before during his natural life-span bestowing the Hallows with his power and enchantments until they attained a state of existence greater and more powerful than even Flamel's famous Philosopher's Stone. The Hallows granted Colron immortality but eventually he learned to channel the abilities they granted him without the Hallows themselves. He mastered time travel and finally decided he wanted to pass the Hallows on. He chose the three Peverell brothers who just happened to be descended from one of Colron's numerous offspring. The man had loved sex and that love continued down through his line.

As far as Harry could tell Colron had moved on to other universes and other timelines after passing on the Hallows. Harry himself had mastered most of the abilities bestowed by the Hallows without the fabled artifacts but still struggled with some tasks without the objects themselves. He spent a great deal of time practicing without the Hallows and still more time practicing with them. As the blue energy field intensified Harry could feel himself connecting to the pocket dimension that existed outside of time where the Hallows' power was anchored within. Harry's body began regressing in age from the point in his mid twenties he had frozen it at back until he was sixteen. The sensation was quite uncomfortable. When the temporal reversion field dissipated Harry found himself in a very muscular form of his sixteen year old body. He could already feel the hormones raging through his body.

Harry could have used illusion and mind magic to ensure others thought he was a teenager but if he was going to capture the heart of his Hermione he didn't want to do so in the body of his mid twenty year old self. After he finished the reversion Harry decided he wanted to sleep. He first relieved himself of the pressure of his hormones with thoughts of Hermione. Then he drifted off to sleep still thinking about his beautiful best female friend.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione's House…

Hermione heard the familiar sound of an owl's wings and set down her book. She was lying on her bed in her home in Crawley wearing a pair of shorts and a dark blue top reading a fantasy novel she found entertaining.

"Hello Hedwig," Hermione greeted the owl as she sat up and drew closer to the owl perched on the baseboard of her bed.

"Hoot, hoot," Hedwig responded.

"Let's get this letter off," Hermione said as she looked for the letter. The witch found no letter but noticed the pouch and lifted the top to find an expanded interior. She also spotted the letter. "I wonder where Harry bought this," Hermione mused as she got up and filled a water dish for Hedwig.

As the owl drank the water gratefully on Hermione's dresser the witch began to read the letter.

_Hermione,_

_First of all I would like you to place a finger on the drawing of a bracelet on the back of this letter and repeat the first three words of the Marauder's passphrase to access a certain map and then say "I love" and finish with your favorite book._

Hermione thought the request was really odd but turned the letter over and spotted the intricate drawing of a beautiful bracelet. She did as directed and made sure to insert her favorite book which just happened to be rather smutty. Hermione's amazement knew no bounds when the bracelet expanded out of the paper and fell onto her bed.

"How the bloody hell did he do that?" Hermione asked aloud, not expecting a response.

Hedwig hooted a reply that Hermione somehow knew meant magic. Muttering about smart ass birds Hermione went back to reading the letter.

_I know you are wondering how that just happened. The bracelet was temporarily transfigured into ink and the transfiguration was set to end when the enchantments I placed on it detected your DNA and that pass phrase. Your DNA is all over my school work given how much you have helped me in the past. The bracelet is enchanted to hide any magic you do from Ministry detection._

Hermione trusted her best friend without question. Therefore she slipped on the silver bracelet decorated with books and various magical creatures, picked up her wand from her nightstand, and cast a levitation charm on a nearby book. She held the charm for thirty seconds before she set the book down and picked up the letter to continue reading while she waited to see if the Ministry sent her a warning.

_Sirius sent me one of these bracelets which I have decided to term a wrist-band because blokes do not wear bracelets._

Hermione rolled her eyes at that comment but was smiling.

_He acquired my wrist-band in another country in a less than reputable market. When I found out I asked him to get me one for you as well. I hope you enjoy it. I've been able to do all sorts of useful magic around the house._

_I've been doing a lot of thinking since Cedric's death. I have reevaluated my course through Hogwarts and the only thing I can honestly say I'm satisfied with is that I acquired you as my friend. Ron can be an alright bloke but more often than not he just wants to slack off and kill time. I honestly don't have the time to waste for that let alone his jealous fits. Some of the best times at Hogwarts were when Ron wasn't talking to me._

Hermione's eyebrows were shooting up as she read that last bit.

"About time he realizes how much of a git Ron is," Hermione told Hedwig.

Hedwig hooted with agreement while bobbing her head up and down. Hermione let out a giggle at the owl's antics and returned to reading.

_I have started revising all of my previous years' material and will be reading ahead as well. I think you will see a very changed Harry Potter when we return to school. I have also decided to start working out and exercising. _

"Bloody hell, he's working out now? He was already too bloody gorgeous before," Hermione told Hedwig while biting her bottom lip.

Hedwig responded with an approving hoot.

_I've decided that I need to have more fun in my life and see more of the world. I won't let Riddle ruin my life. He's already taken my parents, he won't take anything else. I would like to see more of you outside of school and definitely outside of the Burrow. Do you know of anywhere fun we could get together?_

"_Yes. In my bed,"_ Hermione thought to herself but not saying it out loud.

_Hoping to Hear From You Soon,_

_Harry_

Hermione put the letter down and appeared thoughtful. Harry sounded surprisingly well for someone who had just gone through what he went through at the end of the Triwizard. But then again she didn't know anybody else who had gone through that much. So she didn't really know how someone like that was supposed to act. Hermione decided she would talk to her mum and then write Harry back. The more she saw of him over the summer the better. Her parents would probably agree after seeing their daughter practicing magic, something she had been unable to do outside of school.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

As Harry performed his 51st one-armed pull-up on the monkey bars in the park a brisk ten minute walk from Privet Drive he said, "You know…I do believe that out of all the minders Dumbledore has following me I find you the least offensive."

This statement was met by silence.

"Come now, don't make me remove that invisibility cloak. I will feel my intelligence is insulted if you don't respond back," Harry added as he dropped to the ground and turned to face right where he knew the witch was under her invisibility cloak.

Pink hair was the first thing to appear followed by a heart shaped face that wore an expression between sheepishness and surprise.

"Cor, I heard you were full of surprises Mr. Potter but how the bloody hell did you know I was here?" Nymphadora Tonks asked as she tucked away her invisibility cloak.

Harry took in Nym's form or Tonks as she preferred to be called in this time. She looked really good but also really young. This was before she had lost Remus, her husband, to the ravages of the second Voldemort war. This was also before she bore Harry's godson Teddy. And this was also before Harry himself had made love to her through some really great years. Harry knew she would indeed taste as good as she looked. Involuntarily Harry licked his lips before he ruthlessly suppressed his desires for the bubbly metamorphmagus. He was here for Hermione.

"You were breathing quite hard after following me on my ten kilometer run. Your perfume becomes quite noticeable after you start to really sweat. That's a nice scent by the way…lilac I believe," Harry observed, causing the first year Auror to blush. "I also have other means of detecting you but those means are my own for now."

"Mad Eye would love you," Nym said appreciatively before taking a seat on a nearby bench and eying the handsome wizard.

Harry had certainly grown up since the last time Nym had laid eyes on him. She had been a seventh year when he had been a third year. He had filled out nicely. Sweat gleamed over his lean muscular chest and abs. His biceps were filling out as well. She had observed him work out over the previous few shifts she had watched him on and had admired how fit he was. Harry walked over and sat down next to Nym. She could smell his musky scent quite nicely from this distance.

"The name is Harry, not Mr. Potter. What might your name be?" Harry asked as he focused his attention fully on the pink haired woman.

"Call me Tonks," Nym stated.

Harry tilted his head at a forty-five degree angle and said, "What is your first name?"

"How did you know that wasn't my first name?" Tonks asked.

"I can read a lot about a person from body language," Harry replied.

Hesitantly Nym admitted, "My mom named me Nymphadora. But I hate that name."

"Can I call you Nym?" Harry requested. "You just don't seem like a Tonks and I can understand why you wouldn't want to be called Nymph."

"_Boy, you can call me anything you want. Just don't put a shirt back on,"_ Nym thought to herself. Aloud she said, "I suppose that would be alright."

"Alright, Nym, care to tell me why Dumbledore has you following me around in secret? Oh wait…no need to answer that. The old man likes to treat me like a mushroom feeding me shit and keeping me in the dark," Harry mused.

"Tell me how you really feel, Harry," Nym replied wryly. "I must say…I've never heard anybody talk about the Headmaster like that."

"Well I doubt anybody has had a relationship with the Headmaster as that I have with him. Don't get me wrong…I realize Dumbledore is something of a great man to those raised in the wizarding world. But I disagree with how he has handled things in recent years and especially in regard to me," Harry stated. "I will show you."

Harry removed an arm band that Nym hadn't even noticed was there and watched in astonishment as his form rippled and suddenly dozens of nasty looking scars crisscrossed his body. He turned around and showed her his back and she gasped in horror.

"How did you get these, Harry?" Nym asked quietly.

"Dumbledore placed me with people who hate magic. They hate magic with all of their beings, Nym," Harry replied before setting the band back on his arm. "I made this illusion band to conceal my scars."

"I'm an Auror, Harry. Do you know what that is?" Nym asked.

"You're the magical version of a copper," Harry replied. "I don't want anything done about the Dursleys because Dumbledore would make sure it was suppressed. Do you think someone didn't notice the abuse I was receiving as a child? I can't prove it was Dumbledore but someone swept things under the rug. Besides, they won't ever touch me again. I made sure they understood things are changing in Little Whinging."

Nym was silent but eventually nodded as she saw the hard look in Harry's bright green eyes.

"I won't say anything for now. But if I see them hurting you again they'll be in lock-up within minutes," Nym assured.

"Fair enough," Harry agreed. With a grin he added, "But they can't hurt me now."

Nym raised an eyebrow speculatively.

"And why is that?" Nym questioned.

"Nym, I like you. You seem like a smart witch. You're cute too," Harry said with a wink, making the witch blush. "But I just met you. Don't expect I'll tell you all my secrets."

"Well then you'll just have to get to know me," Nym declared.

Nym then proceeded to engage Harry in a conversation where they learned more about each other. Nym was a sporty type of witch who liked a lot of things most blokes did. She didn't have much dating experience because she was a metamorphmagus and blokes tended to want her to change into other forms. She had only finished her extensive Auror training program a few months previously. Nym also learned more about Harry during the conversation. When 8 PM rolled around she had to go have dinner with her parents but Harry learned her shift was from 5 to 8 PM and would see her the next day.

Before she left Harry said, "Oh and Nym, just so you know, the other watchers used brooms to follow me on my runs."

Nym groaned in embarrassment at not thinking of a broom before she apparated away. Harry chuckled and headed back to Number 4 to take a shower. A cold shower would feel good and not just because of the workout. It was harder to be that close to Nym than Harry had thought it would be. He still remembered how good it felt to have her moist bits wrapped around his wand.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry walked downstairs and saw all three Dursleys sitting in the living room watching the telly. Dudley looked at Harry with fear as did Petunia. Vernon just looked at his nephew with impotent rage. Harry was dressed in high quality biker's leather. He sneered at the pathetic excuse for a family. He had laid down the law with the Dursleys shortly after he had arrived back in this time period. It had taken a perforated testicle for Vernon to learn it wasn't wise to mess with Harry. Dudley had received a concussion. Petunia had wisely stayed out of the short but vicious fight.

Harry didn't even say a word to the Dursleys as he walked out the door. There was nothing left to be said. If all went as he planned he would never be back there after that summer. Harry walked down the curb with a wickedly powerful version of the Notice-Me-Not charm in effect. As he summoned a futuristic looking motorcycle out of his trunk and climbed on, Harry idly noted that Diggle was the one on watch at the moment. It didn't really matter. The ward generators in his room would keep Harry's minders thinking he was in his room doing school work and other studies. The bike came to life as it sensed its owner mount it. There was no purr of an engine. The vehicle was electric powered by a tiny fusion cell. It had many magical enhancements like Sirius' motorcycle including charms that would see it flying. Harry took off like a rocket. He loved the quick acceleration of his bike. Under normal traffic conditions and following the speed limits it was a 47 minute drive to Crawley. Harry's bike was enchanted with the same charms the Knight Bus used to avoid traffic and accidents so he could make it in a small fraction of the time.

When he hit 320 kilometers per hour Harry decided to stay at that pace. It was rather fun for the time traveler.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry pulled up to Hermione's house and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. The brownstone was two stories tall and quite large. Ivy crept up the side of the building near Hermione's bedroom. The lawn was large and well kept with the nearest house being located several hundred meters away. This was a testament to the Granger's comfortable bank account and lifestyle given how large a city Crawley was. The brownstone was located on the very outskirts of the city. Harry remembered all the times he had visited the house in the past after Hermione's death. As he pulled into the large driveway connecting to the two car garage Harry noticed a familiar rear sticking up in the air in the flower garden. Emma Granger stood up and turned around from where she had been doing some gardening and Harry was hit with a wave of memories.

It had been after Hermione's death that Harry had sought the Grangers out. It was months after she had died. When he had tracked them down to their house they were going out dressed to impress. Harry followed them concealed and found them going to a club that was known for allowing more amorous activities of all types. It was sort of a swinger's club. Harry had started learning Legilimency in earnest by that point in his life and picked up from Emma's surface thoughts what was going on. Dan and Emma were trying everything to save their marriage. They both greatly enjoyed sex but were awkward around each other after Hermione's death. They just didn't know how to cope with her loss. Somehow they had come to the idea of finding partners at a swingers club with full consent given to each other. While Dan had found a young partner Emma had nervously gone in search of her own young paramour.

Emma looked just like an older version of Hermione. They could be sisters. It was really eerie for Harry as he observed her through his Notice-Me-Not charm. He made a decision. He concealed his scar and approached her at the bar of the club.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Harry asked Emma.

Emma turned and her breath caught. Standing before her was a gorgeous young man who looked to be about her daughter's age. He looked a lot like Hermione's descriptions of Harry in her letters, the ones Dan didn't see. The only thing missing was his scar. It had been five years since Emma had met a twelve year old Harry Potter so she didn't recognize him. And Harry certainly didn't look like a twelve year old boy anymore.

"Yes you can," Emma agreed with a pleased smile. "My name is Emma."

"James," Harry replied, deciding it was best to not give his first name.

He didn't want Emma to know who he was yet. It was pretty common to give false names at that particular club. The two quickly hit it off.

"Would you like to come back to my place, James?" Emma invited as she pressed her body against his and cupped his package.

"I would be a fool to say no, gorgeous," Harry replied before leaning in and kissing Emma.

She deepened the kiss with a moan of delight. The rest was history. What had followed was a night of passion that saw Emma screaming her delight into the late hours of the morning. Dan had taken his partner to a nearby motel while Emma had taken hers back to the brownstone. Emma had planned on doing the deed on the guest bedroom bed per prior agreement with Dan but Harry's age and the fact he looked so much like her daughter's crush saw them doing it on Hermione's bed. This allowed Emma to feel a sense of connection to her daughter. When Harry had revealed his true identity to Emma he had expected her to be pissed and throw him out. Instead she had broken down crying in Harry's arms admitting she had thought of him as Harry Potter to feel closer to Hermione because Hermione had been in love with Harry for ages and described as much in her letters to her mother. Harry also shed some tears at that point before making love to Emma once more.

What followed was an interesting relationship for the next hundred and three years. Whenever Harry wasn't involved in a relationship he would often share Emma's bed. Dan went about fifty years before his wife. Harry thought it had something to do with Emma sharing his bed. He was a powerful wizard and magicians lived a lot longer than non-magicals. It wasn't unthinkable that he had transferred a lot of magic to her over the years. Emma went peacefully in her sleep one of the nights Harry had been with her. That was before he had learned to alter the age of others. He would always treasure what he had shared with Emma Granger knee Brown.

He was brought back out of his thoughts when Emma said, "You must be Harry. Hermione has told us you were coming."

The woman smiled warmly at her daughter's best friend and took his hand in a shake. Emma felt a surge of something powerful jump between the young wizard and herself as their hands touched. She licked her lips as the heat reached her loins.

"Hermione has told me a lot about you, Mrs. Granger," Harry greeted. "The picture she keeps of you and her father didn't do you justice."

"I can see why all the witches at Hogwarts are chasing after you, Harry. Call me Emma and my husband Dan," Emma invited as Hermione and Dan came to the front door.

"Harry," Hermione squealed as she saw her best friend. He _looked_ fitter than ever. She rushed him and enveloped him in a hug. She immediately noticed that he _felt_ so much fitter than she remembered. She felt hard lean muscle beneath his riding jacket. But she shouldn't have been surprised given the letters they had exchanged over the past month mentioning his frequent workout regimen. "I've missed you."

"And I you," Harry admitted as he squeezed Hermione tightly and inhaled her scent like he could live off of it.

She was a mixture of flowers and cinnamon and the smell of well aged books.

"Dan Granger," Dan greeted with a strong handshake after his daughter had broke from an embrace with the young wizard, rather reluctantly Dan noticed.

"Harry Potter, sir," Harry greeted returning the grip with identical pressure while being careful not to crush Dan's hand.

A mage of Harry's power hadn't existed since ancient times. He could easily crush a person's hand if he wasn't careful. Dan didn't realize it but the same hand he was shaking was capable of reshaping reality.

"Come on, I want to show you around," Hermione said excitedly as she took Harry's hand and led him off.

Dan and Emma exchanged amused expressions as their daughter led away her best friend.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry sat down on Hermione's bed and tried not to think about the fact that the last time he had been on that bed was when he had been shagging her mom.

Hermione caught Harry staring at her bed and offered, "We could sit somewhere else if sitting on my bed makes you uncomfortable."

"Not in the least, Hermione," Harry replied. "There is nowhere else that I would rather be in the world than sitting right here with you."

Harry stared into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes and saw the smile start to form on her mouth which his words had generated. She was so beautiful that he felt his plan for wooing her go out the window. He reached out and took her hands in his surprising her.

"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked with a perplexed expression on her face.

"Hermione, I've come to realize just how much you mean to me. You are beautiful, brilliant, brave, and a loyal friend. Do you think you would ever consider becoming my girlfriend?" Harry asked.

Hermione's heart began to beat rapidly and her breath caught in her throat. Harry was staring at her with such an open and caring expression like she had never observed on his handsome face before.

"I'll not only consider it Harry, I will agree to it. I would love to be your girlfriend," Hermione answered.

Harry's smile was brilliant at Hermione's response. Everything he had fought for over the past couple of centuries had hinged upon Hermione's response. If she had said no he would have been devastated.

"Hermione, I'm so happy right now I would really like to kiss you," Harry warned.

Hermione's smile widened as Harry leaned towards her. His lips pressed gently against hers. Their eyes closed at the same moment. The kiss wasn't demanding or aggressive. It was gentle and tender. Harry pushed magic through his lips while concentrating on the wide range of emotions he felt towards Hermione. She moaned against his mouth with surprise and slightly deepened the kiss. Hermione had to break the connection to breathe but her eyes were wide when she did so.

"Harry, that was amazing," Hermione whispered. He nodded his head in agreement. That was the best first kiss Hermione could have ever wished for and that it was with Harry made it even more special. "Come here," she said as she held out her arms.

Harry repositioned himself on the bed so that he lay back against Hermione's pillows beside her. They held each other so that their faces were inches apart. Harry wasn't worried about Dan and Emma barging in. They were pretty laid back non-prudish parents. He had also noticed the Notice-Me-Not charm Hermione had layered on her door which could be activated with the energizing of a rune which she had energized upon entering. A greater way for a muggleborn witch to keep her non-magical parents out of her room had never been found.

The new couple lay there talking to each other in between kisses which gradually grew more exploratory.

"Hermione, you are the most beautiful witch I have ever encountered," Harry admitted.

"Stop it, no I'm not. I am rather plain," Hermione chastised with a blush.

"Hermione, you have no idea how many nights I have dreamed about you," Harry assured. "You are anything but plain."

Hermione rewarded that response with another kiss.

"So you dream about me do you," Hermione said with a smirk. "Are these naughty dreams?"

Hermione thought she would be flattered if he said yes.

"Most of them," Harry assured. "Of course there are some nightmares where you decide to date Ron instead of me."

Hermione made an expression like she was dealing with something unpleasant and answered, "Harry, honestly if you weren't Ron's friend I wouldn't have anything to do with him. He is pretty moronic and he has often treated me poorly. Hell if it wasn't for you his idiocy would have had me killed by the club of a troll."

Hermione's response confirmed something Harry had always suspected, that she wouldn't have willingly dated Ron, which pointed to coercion or the use of magical mind altering substances. Mrs. Weasley had once told Harry and his friends that she used a love potion to get Arthur and had thought it funny. Harry would definitely be careful what Hermione ingested from now on.

"I'm coming to realize that," Harry admitted. "I will be polite with him this year until he does something to screw up. Then I just won't put in any effort to keep the friendship going. Why did you try so hard to get us back together last year?"

"Because I saw how miserable it made you with the way you two fought. And I guess I was frightened something wouldn't happen between us if we were together with just you and I all that time. If nothing happened between us romantically then that would be definitive proof you didn't feel anymore for me than friendship," Hermione explained.

This time it was Harry's turn to kiss his girlfriend and provide comfort.

"Let's go tell your parents we are dating," Harry suggested.

As Hermione got up from the bed, she asked, "Shouldn't you as my boyfriend be reluctant to face my parents?"

"If it means making you happy I would face anything, Hermione Granger," Harry assured while squeezing Hermione's hand.

She beamed at him.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione found her parents in the living room snuggled up on the couch watching the telly. Dan hit the mute button when he noticed his daughter holding her friend's hand.

Emma noticed it too and while smiling asked, "Is there something you would like to tell us, dear?"

"Harry asked me to be his girlfriend," Hermione announced with a delighted grin.

"That is wonderful news, dear," Emma said as she got up and pulled Hermione into a congratulatory hug followed by giving one to Harry.

Emma noticed how fit Harry was and was surprised. He was all lean muscle.

Dan gave Hermione a hug and then while shaking Harry's hand he asked, "Do I need to ask what your intentions are towards my daughter?"

"Daddy," Hermione replied with embarrassment. "We spend most of the year at a boarding school. If we wanted to try anything we would have done it already."

"She has a point dear," Emma added.

Harry drew four small rectangles out of his pocket the size of small matchbooks. He handed the pink one to Hermione, the red one to Emma, the blue one to Dan, and kept the green one to himself.

"What are these, Harry?" Hermione asked as she examined the object.

"Shrunken bags," Harry explained. "Enlarge them by saying enlarge while holding them."

Even as he spoke Harry's bag enlarged. He carried it over to the dining room table and opened it up as the other three followed his example. Harry pulled the sleek and sexy laptop out of its carrying case and lifted the lid before hitting the power button.

"These are computers," Dan said with amazed realization.

Harry nodded and the Grangers came around to his laptop to watch him log into the operating system. The laptops were a powerful version that would be introduced in the mid 2010's with some later enhancements from the 2040's mostly in power systems and wireless communications. The technology of the mid to late 1990's by comparison was large CRT monitors and ancient slow processors. Laptops simply didn't exist. Or they hadn't before Harry had come along.

"These are about to hit the market. Well slower versions will," Harry explained. "My company is making them along with the operating systems. Using these you will be able to stay in touch with Hermione anywhere in the world. My satellites will relay your communications."

"My first question is how are these working around our magic?" Hermione asked.

"A nano-polymer film made out of exotic particles which essentially deflect our ambient magic. The excess magic is absorbed into these collector pads here," Harry explained while indicating black pads on the bottom of his laptop. "That energy is then converted into something useful to power the laptops."

The exotic particles Harry spoke of hadn't been discovered yet by science. Kuranthion particles could only absorb low levels of magic and act as a transducer to produce electrical energy. A byproduct of the electricity produced from Kuranthion conversion was a zoo of other particles being created.

"So we can take these to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Yes," Harry assured. "As long as nobody directs any magic at the computers they will be fine. Weak magic they can take but any moderately powerful spells are not of the good. The electronics will shut down swiftly in the event of a breach in the protections but some of the more sensitive components might need replacement. Everything is solid state, meaning there are no moving parts."

This earned a happy squeal from Hermione and saw her boyfriend earning a kiss despite her parents' presence.

"What is your company called?" Dan asked, intrigued by the futuristic looking computer.

"Potter Tech," Harry answered. "Now what are your other questions?"

"Did you design these yourself?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry admitted. He didn't feel ashamed of that response because even if he had learned the skills from other engineers in the future that didn't mean he hadn't been the one to design the system the Grangers were all looking at and admiring. "This model will be called the Phoenix-01."

"How much are shares in this company?" Dan asked curiously.

"I have no immediate plans to take it public I'm afraid. And even if I did the estimated value per share will be five million pounds sterling," Harry explained.

The Grangers eyes bugged out at that figure. The truth was Harry had been a billionaire before he had come back in time. Working as a dark wizard hunter and then crossing over into the non-magical side of catching terrorists had been very lucrative. Living so long also helped quite a bit. He brought all of that wealth back with him in the form of precious goods that he couldn't flood the market with all at once. Harry had immediately reinvested in markets he knew from history would do well. He would also be the one to start the dot com movement and knew when to diversify before the bust.

"How do you know how to do all of this?" Hermione asked. "The Harry Potter I went to school with all these years didn't seem like he would know anything like this, no offense."

"None taken. The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. Appearing to be a Gryffindor at heart allowed me to hide my true nature. While everyone saw their dumb Gryffindor hero I was studying and planning," Harry explained.

"I helped you with assignments," Hermione pointed out.

"That was mostly to blend in with Ron. And it made you feel better to help out," Harry replied.

Hermione appeared chagrined as she realized her boyfriend was probably just as smart if not smarter than her and that she had been the fool for believing less of him.

"Can you show us how to use some of these features, Harry?" Emma requested, trying not to treat the young man any differently now that she knew he was worth many millions of dollars.

"Yes, Emma. Let's start off with the messenger program that is built into the operating system. That is how you can keep in touch with Hermione. Then I can show you some websites on the internet I'm launching which you might find useful," Harry proposed.

The websites in question were Harry's versions of the most successful websites and programs from his history including Google, EBay, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, and Wikipedia and so on. Wikipedia wasn't a big money maker but Harry still loved it.

Harry wanted to be well positioned when the 2147 class wars took place. As a wizard Harry had managed to come out better than most but those wars had been nasty for all involved. The large corporations had long since given up the pretense of running the government through lobbyists and had instead openly governed society to the detriment of the common man. Finally the suppressed poor had rebelled and overwhelmed the fabulously wealthy with sheer numbers and a little nudge from a certain green eyed wizard. To save themselves the governing corporations had finally released quite a few technologies they had been keeping hidden lest they lose control including organically grown smart houses that were essentially free to mass grow, cheap healthy foods including stem cell grown meats, and marvels of healthcare that wiped out pretty much all diseases. There were many other beneficial technologies also released at that point in time.

The corporate leaders gave up control in exchange for not being slaughtered. Mankind got off Earth too and started making other planets in the solar system habitable. But the cost of the class wars had been high and humanity's population had suffered. After that the government provided the necessities to the people and the economy ran for vices. Anything and everything was legal that didn't infringe on the rights of others.

Harry showed the Grangers how to use their new computers for most of the rest of the day and they quickly grew to love the technology. They would love the technology even more when other users began coming online shortly using Potter Tech produced products. He stayed for dinner and spent the evening getting to know his girlfriend's parents all over again. Dan and Emma were less jaded and quite a bit different than when he had known them. Hermione was such a big part of their lives. He wasn't surprised that her death had caused such a change in Dan and Emma.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 8/3/2014


	2. Chapter 2

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 2

Harry arrived at the gate of Longbottom Manor and looked up at the large stone structure situated on a hill quite far back from the fence. The fence was wrought iron and Harry could sense powerful wards running along the structure and in a dome that covered the estate and even ran beneath it. He reached out and pressed a button that was obviously for guests. A burst of magic shot up to the house and moments later a house elf appeared wearing a very nice looking pillowcase with the Longbottom crest on its right shoulder.

"How can Lanry help you?" The elf asked while looking Harry up and down.

"My name is Harry Potter. I am here to see Neville Longbottom," Harry replied.

Lanry's eyes grew wider than their tennis ball size for a moment before she nodded and answered, "I will tell him and return momentarily." Lanry was gone only for a few seconds before she reappeared and snapped her fingers. The elf was holding a broom. The gates swung open and Lanry invited, "Please follow me, Sir. Master Neville assured me you would know how to use this."

Harry took the older but well maintained broom and shot after the house elf who reached the front door of the house through a series of rapid pops. Neville opened the door with a wide grin on his face.

"Harry, come in," Neville invited as his friend touched down and handed the broom back to Lanry. "What brings you out here?"

"Would you like some tea, Master Neville?" Lanry asked.

Neville raised an eyebrow questioningly at Harry and when the guest signaled a negative Neville replied, "No thank you Lanry."

"Can't a bloke visit his god brother?" Harry replied.

Neville's face froze in an expression of startled surprise for a moment before he relaxed and said, "I didn't think you knew about that or just didn't want to acknowledge it."

Neville's mother was Harry's godmother. Harry's mother had been Neville's godmother. Alice and Lily had been best friends in Hogwarts.

"Up until recently I didn't know about it. I know we haven't exactly been that close at Hogwarts but I would like to change that," Harry suggested as he and Neville took seats in a very nice sitting room Neville had led them to.

Neville's expression brightened and he said, "I would like that."

"So what have you been up to this summer?" Harry asked.

"The usual. I've been doing some gardening, studying, and taking lessons from my gran on wizarding etiquette and how to manage our holdings," Neville explained. "What about you?"

"Oh you know…the usual. I've been dating Hermione, starting a multimillion pound company, revolutionizing the non-magical technology of the world, working out, and training," Harry said with a completely nonchalant expression.

Neville's eyes grew wide for a moment and his mouth dropped open. Finally he latched onto one important fact.

"You're dating Hermione?" Neville clarified.

"Yes I am," Harry confirmed.

"I always thought you two would make a good couple. She's a great witch and none too hard on the eyes either if you don't mind me saying so," Neville said with a blush.

"Too right you are, Nev," Harry agreed. "After last year with Cedric I finally realized how short life is and that Hermione was one of the brightest points in my life."

"How did Ron take the news?" Neville asked with a wince, imagining it couldn't have been pretty.

"We haven't told him yet," Harry replied. "Considering he agreed to Dumbledore's request to not respond to any of my letters this summer I don't rightly care what Ron thinks. I wouldn't even if we were still conversing. The old bastard asked Hermione too and of course she told him she agreed but then told me about it."

"Why would Dumbledore ask that of them?" Neville questioned.

"Put this on and I will explain it to you," Harry requested as he handed Neville a dark blue wrist-band that matched the one he and Hermione wore except in color.

What Harry hadn't at first told Hermione about but would explain to her when it came up in a later conversation was that her bracelet not only hid her magic from being detected by the Ministry but it also hid her mind from being detected by a Legilimens.

"What does it do?" Neville asked as he slipped the bracelet on.

Harry internally sighed at how trusting Neville was.

"Neville, for future reference please don't trust anybody so easily. That bracelet could have been enchanted to harm you or break you to the control of another. You should have also checked my identity to ensure I was really Harry Potter. Polyjuice is only one avenue for infiltration. Let's set up a pass phrase so we can confirm for the future. The one who initiates greeting will say _Gryffindors charge ahead_ and the one who responds will say _thank Merlin we aren't very Gryffindor_," Harry suggested.

"Sorry, Harry. I didn't even think about that," Neville admitted.

"It's alright, Nev. Most people won't have to worry. You and I aren't most people. I'm also going to teach you some spells to make it so others can't overhear our conversations or our passphrase. Now, I need to explain some things. That wrist-band keeps the Ministry from detecting any magic you perform inside or outside of Hogwarts. It also protects your mind from being read by a Legilimens," Harry explained. Neville's eyes stared at the wrist-band in awe. "Before we were born Dumbledore was witness to a prophecy by Trelawney, her first real prophecy."

Harry recited the prophecy to Neville and Neville quickly sussed the meaning out.

"That refers to you and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Neville surmised.

"Yes, but it could also just as easily apply to you. You may not have been visibly marked but Voldemort through his followers has left his marks on you," Harry replied. Neville blanched. "Now obviously the dark tosser has chosen to interpret me as being the child of prophecy but I tell you this to make you understand. You also have the power within you to defeat the creature responsible for so much evil. Dumbledore wants me shaped into his weapon ready to follow him into any hell without question. He will be sorely disappointed."

"How did Vold…Vold…Voldemort….hear the prophecy?" Neville asked.

"Call him Tom Riddle. That is his true name. We'll get into that more later. Severus Snape told Riddle the prophecy," Harry answered.

Neville's expression was of complete shock for several moments before utter fury blossomed.

"That bastard," Neville snarled. "I'll kill him!" A visible aura of magic manifested around Neville as he stood. The nearest curtains caught fire. This was what Harry hoped would happen. Neville was powerful but using a mismatched wand wasn't a good way to start off being a wizard. It stunted Neville's confidence in himself and belief in one's self was a big part of working magic.

"Sit, Neville," Harry commanded in a tone that was laced with power and brooked no argument.

A wave of Harry's hand saw the curtain being extinguished and being restored to its original condition.

"He killed your parents Harry and as good as killed mine," Neville pointed out.

"And the bastard is going to pay for that. But it will be at a time and place of our choosing," Harry replied.

Neville simmered but sat back and stared at Harry.

"How do you know all of this, Harry?" Neville asked while staring intently at his god brother.

"I'm not prepared to reveal everything at this time. You will know the answer to that in the future. Suffice it to say I'm a lot smarter than I let most people know. You are now in my trust," Harry explained. "Don't break that trust and we will be good. Now we have much to talk about today before I start teaching you some invaluable spells. Let us continue," Harry proposed.

Neville gave a sharp nod of agreement.

"Where is your gran?" Harry queried. "I don't want to be interrupted."

"She is at the house of a friend where she and a bunch of her friends regularly meet. She won't be back until late this evening," Neville assured. "Please continue."

That day would forever change Neville Longbottom's life. Harry would gain another valuable ally and lifelong friend.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry finished releasing the last of the satellites into orbit from his temporal dimension where most of his belongings from the future were still stored. The amount of belongings he had amassed in 260 years of life sometimes staggered him. He could easily fill several large warehouses with just that which he had collected in the first century alone. He looked out into the depths of space and imagined what was out there. He had met many of the races he knew were in the cosmos. Even now Harry was sure some of their emissaries were down below on Earth watching and waiting to see if the people of Earth were ready for contact, running simulations. That was what the fiction of many of these alien encounters was all about, testing the public's reaction. Most races just stopped by occasionally to change the direction of their simulations and check the progress of Earth but some stayed. Most beings of legend really did exist.

As Harry contemplated the harshness of space he floated in effortlessly he couldn't help but think of the close encounter he himself had had for 59 years. It was the year 2181 when he had sought out the Kryptonian ambassador to Earth. As it turned out Super-Man was a scenario run by the Kryptonian race to see how the people of Earth would react to Kryptonians. Krypton had not really exploded. The characters of the Super-Man mythos were even loosely based off of the ambassador and her family. Kara El of the House of El was a stunningly beautiful blonde female who like all of her race possessed a sharp mind and an inhumanly perfect physique. Kara had been intrigued when Harry had managed to get an appointment with her receptionist with no reason given for the meeting. Telepathic races were still a rarity on Earth back in the 2180's. When he had entered her office appearing human and had then resisted the ability of Kara's matter penetrating eyesight to probe he had held her attention. Harry had engaged Kara in a discussion of temporal mechanics which told her he knew more about the subject than any human had the right to. Kara hadn't disclosed to him how much her people knew about time travel at that first meeting.

He was wealthy, handsome, mysterious, and intelligent. Kara had taken to him right away unlike how she behaved with most humans. They had possessed a mutual attraction for each other. Harry wasn't above seducing Kara to get at her secrets. Their affair had been passionate. Kara had been surprised when their first night sharing a bed he had refused the enhancing agents that would temporarily allow him to survive an intimate night with her Kryptonian physique. He had then shocked her when he had not only survived their night together but had brought her unimaginable pleasure. She had writhed under his ministrations and couldn't get enough of him. Eventually when Harry worked out that Kara's people couldn't travel back in time as far as he wanted to go he had been disappointed. Over the following 59 years Harry had shared Kara's bed many nights. Eventually he told her about his people and showed her what he really was. Kryptonians were impervious to a lot but not to the powers Harry wielded.

Kara had fallen in love with Harry as much as her people could love and if he was honest with himself he was somewhat in love with her. But he wouldn't be deterred from his mission to get back to Hermione. When Kara had realized this she had only asked one thing of him, a child. Harry had granted her this and more. Kara had born his twins, a boy and a girl and the powers those children wielded made them virtually deities. Harry couldn't leave his children without a father and if he was honest Kara without what she craved most, him. So he had cloned himself before he had left and gave that clone all his memories. Harry was a powerful telepath and had toned down his clone's drive to get back to Hermione. Kara hadn't cared that the clone wasn't the original. She was just happy to have some version of Harry remain with her. In her gratitude she had violated the rules of her people and had gifted Harry with a copy of all the knowledge of her people. Since he was going into the past it wasn't like he would get in trouble.

As he came out of the memory, Harry closed his fist and felt the power in his limbs. The world below was a fragile world at the time and he could break mountains with his body. Through his natural gifts from birth Harry had learned to mimic all of Kara's powers and abilities and possessed none of her weaknesses. At the surface of his skin was an energy shield which protected the flesh beneath from nearly anything. He could control inertia, not just his own, using his wizarding power core. He could direct incredible amounts of force through his limbs and manipulate the inertia, the mass of any matter he touched and some he didn't. Kara had often enjoyed sparring with him and he her. The Earth below was fragile and needed to be woken from its belief that it was alone. It needed to be prepared for the violence of the future.

Harry took off faster than a bullet hurtling down through the upper atmosphere, enjoying the sensation of flight. The superheated plasma of reentry didn't bother him in the slightest. The satellites in orbit were highly advanced and used plenty of Kryptonian and wizarding tech mixed together. The sensors onboard the satellites could detect impending disasters sometimes even minutes in advance or give real time coverage of ongoing incidents. These incidents were filtered by order of priority and fed to Harry through a nanite neural link to his mind. Harry shot down and landed on the concrete hard enough to crack the concrete in front of a bank where a man in a mask was spraying police cars with bullets from an automatic weapon. Harry stood there for all intents and purposes looking identical to the Super-Man from myth. The robber's eyes widened and he actually stopped firing for a second at the figure standing in front of him. Then he turned the weapon on Harry and opened fire.

The bullets lost their inertia as they drew closer to Harry. Inertia was mass and mass was required to generate force. It was no harder for Harry than maintaining a constant overpowered feather light charm after so many years of doing it. Even if the bullets hadn't lost all the force by the time they reached the surface of his skin Harry's constant shield maintained at the surface of his skin would have robbed them of any effectiveness. The stream of bullets continued as Harry walked forward through them. When Harry was five feet away the robber got desperate and pulled a grenade. The thief pulled the pin with his teeth and tossed it at Harry before stepping behind the wall the door of the bank was set in. Harry caught the grenade and wrapped it in his cape. The explosion went off with a dampened **boom** and Harry released his cape. The suit was Kryptonian armor and hadn't even been singed by the explosion. In fact most of the heat and light had been absorbed into the suit to harvest power. The remainder Harry had dissipated with his wizarding abilities.

The robber looked out from behind the door frame and saw Super-Man standing two feet away. Harry's hand shot out and caught the robber by the throat with his left hand while his right gripped the automatic weapon barrel. Harry squeezed the barrel and crushed it while jerking the man into the air.

"This can't be real," the robber shouted.

Harry lifted slightly into the air and flew over towards the amazed police officers while a crowd gathered and the flash of cameras went off all around.

"Anything is possible," Harry assured as he set the robber down in front of the police captain. "I believe you can take it from here gentlemen."

"Sure. Thanks Super-Man," Captain Richard Ryan said as two of his officers placed the crook in cuffs.

"Are you really Super-Man?" One of the reporters for the New York Times shouted.

"I should think the suit would make it obvious," Harry said with a grin before taking off into the air at speeds that saw him blurring to those watching.

The sound of a sonic boom in the upper atmosphere was heard several seconds later. In truth Harry had apparated up higher and used illusions and sound spells to generate the effect he wanted.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry watched under a cloak as the airplane flying towards London began to come down from its high altitude. Within seconds of it starting its descent the plane was struck by a small burning rock from space. The rock went straight through the wing and continued towards the Earth, London to be exact. Between London and the meteor floated Harry. Harry grunted as the meteor hit him with enough force to level a city. The resulting explosion blew out every window in London below. Harry flew up out of the plasma storm that had formed around him when the meteor had exploded against his near invulnerable form and streaked towards the spiraling plane. As he caught the plane he applied sticking charms to the surface through his palms and channeled a massive overpowered feather light and levitation charm into the plane's structure.

The charm did its job in not only halting the plane's descent but also keeping any passengers from dying in the sudden stop. Harry flew towards the ground with the plane in his grasp. He was channeling an unbreakable charm into the hull of the aircraft otherwise the plating where he was gripping the exterior would have torn free from the awkwardness of the plane and the wind blowing on it. Harry used the levitation charm to fight against the pull of the wind. As he came in for a landing at the biggest airport in London, Harry set the plane down. There was quite a crowd watching. Harry simply flew off to find more people that needed help from the exploding glass. He saved quite a few lives from people that had been cut badly by the glass.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"Hermione, Harry, get down here," Dan called from the living room.

Hermione and Harry came downstairs in their socks to find her parents watching the telly with rapt attention. On the screen were images of a news broadcast where a figure in a red cape with what looked like an S inside of a diamond shape was catching an airplane over London, foiling a bank robbery where bullets had no effect on him in New York, catching a derailing train in Tokyo, and saving a sinking yacht in a massive storm off the coast of Australia.

"This has to be some kind of joke," Emma said. "That's Super-Man!"

"It's on every channel," Dan pointed out as he flipped through many news channels.

Hermione's hand never left Harry's as she she sat down in a love seat next to him.

"Is this magic?" Emma asked her daughter and Harry.

Hermione appeared thoughtful before answering, "It would have to be an incredibly powerful wizard. I'm talking Albus Dumbledore or beyond powerful. Maybe even Merlin powerful. And I've never known a magician to move as fast as he did flying out of New York. I suppose if enough research was done by someone that powerful they could duplicate the powers of Super-Man. But the person would have to be a genius and know more about muggle culture than any British pureblood would subscribe to. I don't think any British pureblood would be involved. And it violates the statute of secrecy horrendously."

"So it could be a wizard but it's highly unlikely," Dan summarized earning a nod from his daughter.

"I honestly don't know how to react and that is considering we found out a few years back that magic is real and our daughter is a witch," Emma stated.

"If that really is Super-Man," Harry began. "Then it means we have confirmation of alien life. We have long suspected it but now we have proof."

"He's right," Hermione agreed, becoming excited.

"But all aliens may not be as friendly as this bloke appears to be," Dan pointed out.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Harry added.

Harry sat and watched the news broadcasts with his girlfriend and her parents until late that night when it was time for him to go home. When he wasn't flying about the globe as Super-Man automated duplicates that were a mixture of magic and Kryptonian technology were doing it for him, handling crime and disasters alike. Harry had used one of the crystals Kara had gifted him to build a fortress like Super-Man had but then had warded the place beyond detection. He would be very interested to see how the humans of Earth reacted to the appearance of Super-Man.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry and Neville walked into the St. Mungo's ward Neville's parents had been housed in for the last fifteen years and went to the last two curtained off beds at the end of the ward furthest from the door. Neville looked apprehensive for a moment before pulling back the curtain to his mother's bed.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt her," Harry assured.

"It's not that," Neville said. "I'm just worried what will happen if this doesn't work. You've gotten my hopes up."

Harry had told Neville that he thought he might be able to help Alice after Neville had obtained copies of the magical scan results performed on the elder Longbottoms. Neville had simply told the healers that he was consulting a specialist on the continent. Neville already knew that Alice's condition wasn't as bad as Frank's and Harry had told Neville that Frank probably couldn't be helped. The hope of having even one of his parents back gave Neville the strength to bring Harry to the hospital. In the future many neurological damages were repairable. If the damage was too bad provided the subject's essence hadn't fled the body like Frank's had then a clone form could be created to transfer that essence (magic, soul, and mind) into. Frank had undergone so much torture that a critical part of his essence, his consciousness, had used his magic to flee his flesh. If he wasn't beyond the veil already Harry thought Frank's body would eventually give up and pass on. It was like an unintended and dangerous form of astral projection and wasn't well studied.

Harry placed his hands on the sleeping Alice's temple and put her into a deeper sleep before his hands began to glow a pale blue.

"I'm sorry about your dad but being put under the curse by both Lestrange brothers was a lot worse than being crucioed by one magician," Harry said.

"I understand, Harry. If you can even bring one of my parents back House Longbottom will forever be in your debt. _I_ will forever be in your debt," Neville assured.

"No, you won't. She's my godmother. She is family as are you," Harry asserted. "Get comfortable. This is going to take awhile."

Harry closed his eyes and focused on regenerating the damaged neural tissue. After that he would have to try to repair her memories. Neville nodded before sitting in a chair next to his mother's bed. It wasn't long after that he managed to drift off to sleep despite his anxiety.

Alice's mind slowly came to awareness and she gradually focused on the man with his hands holding her head. He looked like James Potter but with bright green eyes. She knew those eyes from somewhere. It took longer than it should have for her to remember Lily's bright green eyes. This was Harry.

"Harry," Alice rasped.

Harry conjured Alice a glass of water and passed it to her. He helped her drink it slowly.

"Relax, Alice," Harry soothingly whispered. He wandlessly erected a silencing charm around himself and Alice. "You're safe in the long term care ward at Saint Mungo's."

Alice processed these facts and tried to guess Harry's age. The last time she had seen him he had been a baby. A baby he was not anymore. She would guess he was in his mid to late teens. It was hard to tell because there was a look of incredible intelligence in his eyes.

"Frank, Neville, how are they?" Alice asked.

Harry stepped aside and gestured to the sleeping Neville before answering, "I'm afraid Frank and you were held under the cruciatus. Frank took the worst of it. Your memories are going to be fragmented. I doubt you even remember that incident."

"No, I don't," Alice confirmed as her heart ached for Frank. She was at the same time relieved to see Neville. He was all grown up. "What year is it?"

"It's 1995," Harry answered, causing Alice to wince at the realization she had lost so much time.

"Where are your parents?" Alice asked.

Apparently Alice didn't remember that bit either.

"I'm sorry to say Voldemort himself came for us. I'm the only one that survived," Harry explained gently.

If Alice had struggled to hold back the tears before she couldn't possibly now. Lily had been her best friend.

"How did you survive if they didn't?" Alice asked. "And who raised you, Sirius…Augusta?"

"It's a long story. Let's wake Neville and I can tell it," Harry suggested as he broke the privacy spell and gently shook Neville awake.

Neville came awake with a start and locked eyes with his mother. He immediately picked up on the focus in her gaze and a wide grin broke out on his lips.

"Mum," Neville whispered and rushed into her open arms.

Mother and son cried as they held each other. Harry watched on until Alice held out her left arm inviting her godson to hug her. Harry did so and enjoyed hugging the woman that should have raised him if circumstances had turned out slightly better.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry had been right. His survival and the life thereafter was a long story. Alice didn't know how to feel after hearing his story. There were so many warring emotions. Primarily concern and anger won out over all the other emotions. She was concerned for her godson and angry at Dumbledore for putting Harry with the Dursleys. She was also angry at Petunia, Lily's horrid sister, for treating Harry as he had been treated. Alice also felt a great sense of sadness. There was sadness for Lily and James, heartache for Frank and how her son had been forced to grow up, and despair at all the friends who had been lost in the last war only for another to start. But she didn't have time to think about that. She had her boys to take care of.

"Right then," Alice said. "You're not setting foot back at Privet Drive. You're my godson and I have a copy of your parents will saying they wanted you to go with me. You'll come live with us."

"Alright," Harry agreed.

With Alice in the picture Harry's style would be cramped a bit unless he told her more about his true time traveling nature but he was a skilled enough magician to work around that.

"I brought your wand, mum," Neville offered as he placed a wand in its sheathe in her hand.

"Thank you, baby," Alice said, causing her son to blush as she drew her wand. "It feels great to have this again. I suppose it's time to face the music. You'd best call in the healers and alert your gran that I'm myself again. Harry, shouldn't I feel sorer than I am? And how is it that you were able to heal me when all of these more experienced healers were not?"

"I doubt he'll tell you that, mum," Neville replied. "Harry is pretty mysterious. I suspect the most you will get out of him is that he has hidden genius."

"It wasn't that hard. The non-magicals have made some good progress into studying neurological damage and nerve damage. I borrowed from those disciplines. Snape has really hurt the healing profession in that mostly only purebloods can get a high enough grade in his class to study for a NEWT in potions. That is required to become a healer. Purebloods generally don't know enough about non-magicals to study non-magical sciences," Harry explained. "I took care of any physical problems that would have resulted given how long you have been in a bed."

Alice was a half blood so she knew a lot about what Harry was talking about. Neville just looked mostly confused.

"I understand why you lack trust, Harry," Alice told her godson. "With the way you have been raised and treated I don't blame you. I will do my best to earn it. I know I'm not your mum. I loved Lily like a sister. I will do my best to help you just like she did."

Harry couldn't say anything given how high his emotions were from this woman's words so he simply nodded and smiled gently at her.

"Mum, this is Healer Murphy," Neville introduced the woman who looked to be older than his gran.

It was quite hard to tell the healer's real age given her magical nature.

"Merlin, I didn't believe what you were telling me, Neville," Murphy stated. "Welcome back to the land of the coherent Mrs. Longbottom. Let's just run a check-up and see how you are doing."

"I'll go floo gran," Neville announced.

While Neville left to get his gran Murphy ran her wand over Alice in the pattern of several diagnostic charms Harry recognized. He was well versed in healing. Medical technology of the future made the most cutting edge 1990's technology seem like the Stone Age in comparison.

Augusta Longbottom rushed into the ward in time to hear Murphy announce, "You seem to be doing quite well, Mrs. Longbottom."

"Alice," Augusta cried and rushed to the younger witch's bedside.

Murphy took this opportunity to slip from the ward.

"Augusta," Alice greeted as she accepted her mother-in-law's hug.

Neville appeared to be shocked by the affectionate display from his gran. Neville slowly walked over to where Harry was standing.

"I take it she doesn't do hugs?" Harry whispered.

"No, not at all," Neville said.

"I imagine a lot is going to change," Harry said.

Augusta drew back and seemed to compose herself somewhat.

"Did Neville mention about Frank?" Alice asked her mother-in-law.

"Yes, he did," Augusta said with her face expressionless.

"You remember Harry from when he was a baby," Alice said while indicating her godson.

Augusta turned to Harry and ran her eyes over him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Potter," Augusta said to Harry. "Thank you for what you have done for House Longbottom."

"Neville already thanked me Ma'am but it was unnecessary. She is my godmother too. Please call me Harry. I only wish I had been able to help Mr. Longbottom too," Harry replied.

There was no return offer to call her Augusta and Harry was fine with that. He detected a look of pain flicker briefly across her features. Harry was sure the others hadn't caught it so swift was the expression displayed.

"I'm sure you did your best Mr. P…Harry," Augusta corrected.

"I have told Harry he can live with us, Augusta. His life with the Dursleys has been less than ideal," Alice stated.

Alice's tone was respectful but brooked no room for argument. Neville had already started learning to manage the Longbottom estate no doubt at his age. When he turned seventeen in a year's time the main accounts would pass to him. Already when Alice awoke she would be the trustee on all Longbottom assets. Like Augusta she wouldn't be able to move sizeable quantities of assets without Neville's approval in lieu of Frank but she would certainly hold more sway over her son than his grandmother.

"Of course," Augusta agreed.

"Neville, would you be a dear and run and fetch the discharge paperwork from Healer Murphy. I'm ready to get out of this ward," Alice instructed.

There was no arguing with Alice.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione stepped out of the floo and managed to stay on her feet. She was greeted by the immediate pop of a house elf.

"You must be Mistress Hermione. I am Lanry," Lanry greeted Hermione in English that surprised her by its correct usage of grammar. "Please follow me." 

Hermione followed the elf through a dining room past a kitchen and out a back door to the back of a large manor house. Hermione immediately spotted two witches standing looking up at two wizards flying. She realized the one wizard was Harry right away and it took her a moment to recognize the other as Neville.

"I didn't think Neville cared for brooms much," Hermione said aloud, surprised when the younger of the two witches turned and smiled at her.

The younger witch must have been Neville's mother for Hermione could easily see his features in the brunette witch.

"You must be Hermione. Call me Alice. This is Neville's grandmother," Alice introduced as she approached Hermione and pulled the younger witch into a warm hug. "I think Harry has helped Neville get over a lot of his reservations."

Hermione returned the hug and said, "He is really good at that."

"I'm pleased to meet my godson's girlfriend," Alice said as she conjured several chairs and gestured for Hermione to sit with her and Augusta. "Tell us about yourself? What subject or subjects do you like best at Hogwarts? Where did you grow up? Where do you currently live?"

As she sat Hermione and the others watched Neville slip from his broom as he attempted a corkscrew in the air at Harry's prompting. Faster than the others could follow Harry's wand was out and caught both Neville and the broom in a levitation charm. Neville remounted his broom and Harry coaxed him into completing the maneuver. Hermione began to tell Alice about herself and found she got on very well with the older witch. For Alice it was almost like seeing Lily again. Hermione and Lily were very much alike. It was nice to see Harry had learned how to treat a witch much sooner than his father had.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"Good, good," Harry praised Neville and Hermione as their fire whips twined around the stone pillars he had conjured fifteen meters from where they stood.

"I can't believe it worked," Neville admitted.

Alice felt the familiar feeling of anger rise in her at her son's lack of confidence and ruthlessly crushed it. It would do no good to go after her mother-in-law for Neville's treatment. Being constantly compared to Frank, a powerful wizard who along with her had faced off against Voldemort three times and lived to tell the tale, and then given his ill fitting wand had suppressed any confidence Neville might have felt in himself in any of the wand based magics. Getting him his own wand had been one of the first things Alice had done for her son.

"Neville, you'll soon learn that you are a powerful wizard despite what your previous wand may have led you to believe," Harry assured, echoing Alice's thoughts. "You can intensify the power of the whip by pushing more energy into the spell and sharpening your focus. Advanced and skilled users can even control the course of the whip with their mind."

Harry demonstrated by sending a whip of fire from his wand to wrap around Hermione's stone column above her own whip. His whip grew brighter and suddenly the top of the column fell off with glowing slag marking where Harry's whip had once been. The whip tip jumped over to Neville's column and repeated the decapitation. Alice was still amazed watching her godson use magic. He tried to hide it but Alice could spot just how skilled he was. She doubted many other magicians of her experience level would get to see him using advanced magic without a battle or fight going on. In the heat of battle there would be no time to observe the subtleties of Harry's magic use.

Just then Lanry popped into existence behind Longbottom Manor where the youths were practicing and Alice was watching.

"Mistress Alice, there is a visitor at the gates. It is Albus Dumbledore," Lanry announced.

The practicing had stopped at these words and Alice tensed.

"We expected he would show up sooner or later," Harry pointed out. "I'll be coming along."

"Of course," Alice agreed. "Please show Dumbledore to the sitting room, Lanry."

The elf nodded before it popped away.

"_We'll_ be coming along," Hermione corrected.

Harry grinned wryly at his girlfriend and didn't try to dissuade her. Neville had nodded his agreement with Hermione's words. Instead Harry took her right hand in his left and cast a cleaning charm over her and Neville. The two magicians had worked up a sweat with the magic practice. Neville walked beside the couple into the sitting room as Alice led the way. They took seats and sat quietly. Minutes later Dumbledore was shown in wearing his usual lurid robes and looking quite a bit older than Alice remembered him.

"Albus, please take a seat. Why are you here?" Alice asked, straight to the point.

Albus noted the lack of refreshments offered and the tension in the room. He passed his eyes over the gazes of those present and found that he could surprisingly pick up nothing with his passive legilimency. Unbeknownst to those wearing certain enchanted jewelry gifted from Harry their minds were protected from foreign invasion. Alice was fairly skilled at occlumency.

"I was glad to hear you got better, Alice," Albus began with. The Prophet hadn't kept Alice's recovery a secret. St. Mungos had tried to tout it as a success for the hospital but Rita Skeeter had gotten a version of the truth. In the current anti-Dumbledore and anti-Potter political climate Fudge was pushing it wasn't clear how much this new healing ability would help Harry's reputation. "I am here to request that Harry return to Privet Drive for a time. There are powerful," Albus began but was cut off.

"No," Alice said succinctly.

"Please I implore you to see reason, Alice. Those wards can help Harry," Albus pleaded.

"Albus, those wards lost all effectiveness the moment Riddle used Harry's blood in a resurrection ritual," Alice said. "I don't know what game you were playing putting him there in the first place given that I know for a fact the will James and Lily left said he was to never go to the Dursleys, a will you sealed."

"It was the safest place for him," Albus argued.

"The safest place would have been for him to be raised by you. You could have protected him," Alice pointed out.

Albus sagged and explained, "At the time our world was in such turmoil. I felt too old to raise a child and that Harry's best chance was anonymity among the muggles. I also didn't want him to be raised with the fame he would receive for I have watched fame warp people."

"Like it has you, Sir?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time. At Dumbledore's raised eyebrows he elaborated, "Your fame has given you a god complex and made you think you know what is best for everyone around you. It made you think that you know what is for the greater good." Dumbledore winced at that last phrase. "I know about the prophecy, Headmaster. My godmother doesn't believe in keeping me in the dark."

"Harry, I must caution you that prophecies can be dangerous. The knowledge of a prophecy could lead you to give up in despair and tip the balance in Riddle's favor," Albus said while throwing Alice a disapproving look. "Riddle would kill for the full contents of that prophecy."

"Those in this room aren't fools, Headmaster," Harry assured.

"I don't trust you anymore, Albus. Your past actions while I have been _away_ have not proven to be in the best interests of my family. Speak no further of returning to the Dursleys unless you want my distrust to grow. I have the legal right where it concerns my godson," Alice warned.

Albus was silent for several long moments before he stood, "I will take my leave now. I can only hope that in the future I can earn your trust once more. Before I go would you four look at this piece of paper?" Dumbledore handed Harry a piece of parchment. "It's the location of your godfather's house. He would like to see you and the house is under the Fidelius. Mrs. Longbottom, Mr. Longbottom, and Miss Granger are of course welcome."

When they had looked at the parchment Dumbledore took it back and burned it before leaving.

After Dumbledore left the room Alice waited until she felt him leave the wards before sighing with relief.

"That went better than I expected," Harry said.

"I don't think he will let this go," Alice cautioned.

"Oh, I know. It's just I was half expecting a temper tantrum," Harry explained.

"That would be an interesting sight to see. Albus Dumbledore having a fit like a child," Hermione mused.

"Indeed," Neville agreed with an amused grin the others shared. "Let's get back to training."

The others agreed and returned to their practice.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry was returning at 4 AM from one of his flights as Super-Man when he felt it. The world had suddenly gone cold and he could feel it even through the shield he kept at the surface of his skin. He turned from where he had landed near the back door and saw three figures rapidly gliding towards him. He focused on the three dementors coming at him and because of this he didn't see Alice looking out her bedroom window. She had been alerted by the disturbance in the wards when the dementors had entered the property.

Harry faced the creatures without fear and Alice was terrified for her godson. He didn't even attempt to draw his wand. Then she saw why. When the three dementors closed within ten meters a blazing red light came from his eyes and enveloped the dementor in the center. The creature didn't make a sound as it was vaporized. Harry moved in a blur before the other two dementors even comprehended the fullness of the fate of their third companion. One second he was standing by the back door and the next Alice saw her godson standing between the dementors with his hands gripping their thin throats. Shadows lashed at his hands as the dementors thrashed and clawed at his gripping fingers, trying to dislodge his hold on them. When that didn't work the dementors tried inhaling his soul. Nothing happened.

"You lot made a poor choice listening to Umbridge," Harry informed the two minor demons with a casual unconcerned tone.

As Alice watched the dementors started to glow dark purple. Then they started to shrink and change shape until Harry held in each hand a midnight black medallion that had the depiction of a dementor engraved on the front. The light seemed to form shadows around the pendants on long chains. Harry pocketed the medallions and turned back towards the house. He spotted her then and locked eyes with Alice. Then he was gone and she heard a sound behind her. She whirled and found Harry standing there.

"How did you do that?" Alice asked in a whisper.

"There are magics which are specifically crafted to manipulate demons. These magics are not common knowledge," Harry admitted, not telling a lie but not admitting he was the only one in the world who knew these magics because they had yet to be invented. "I showed you how to use the laptop I gave you. I will send you a book right now which will teach you how to deal with weaker demons. You aren't ready for anything powerful yet. But when you figure out how to do what I just did then I will give you one of the medallions I just created."

"What do the medallions do?" Alice asked.

"That you will have to figure out from your reading," Harry replied. "Goodnight godmother."

"Goodnight Harry," Alice replied even as she got out her laptop.

When she accessed the shared network Harry had set up for the family she found the book he had told her about. It was titled _Demonology: An Introduction_. Alice had been a Ravenclaw. She didn't sleep the rest of the night. It would take Alice some time to learn that the dementor medallions would siphon the magic out of another being at whatever rate the owner of the medallion desired. Some of the magic would be lost to the dementor essence within but the rest could be repurposed for whatever the medallion's bearer desired.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 8/26/2014

Rev 1 Posted 8/27/2014

I fixed error "Harry's best chest" which should have been "Harry's best chance". Thanks to Goku90504 for pointing it out to me.


	3. Chapter 3

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 3

"That was a wonderful movie," Hermione declared with a grin as she walked out of the movie theater with her right arm wrapped around Harry's waist.

The young woman had found sitting in Harry's arms to be quite an enjoyable experience. He had used magic to keep the non-magicals from noticing as he transfigured their seats into something more comfortable and used a slight space-expansion charm to give them a bit more breathing room.

"Yes, the writers of the movie had some interesting viewpoints on magic. I always enjoy watching movies if for no other reason than to get ideas on new ways to wield magic," Harry replied as he and Hermione walked away from the showing of Jumanji, his left arm over her shoulders.

Dinner and a movie had turned out to be a great idea. Hermione was determined to thank her parents for suggesting the date idea later. The restaurant the young couple had eaten at had been very good and the food was excellent. Getting to ride to the restaurant on Harry's motorcycle had been exhilarating. That the motorcycle in question was now shrunken and stored away magically for Harry to use at will was also fascinating to the magic loving young witch.

"Do you really think other worlds like that exist, Harry? Like what we saw in the movie," Hermione queried. "I know magical theories say they are possible."

"Oh they exist," Harry assured. "And humanity has interacted with them in the past. Tales like Alice in Wonderland exist for a reason."

"You sound so sure," Hermione mused.

In the future magicians would find ways to probe into other universes and view events going on there. Methods of travel to those other layers of existence were being experimented with even as Harry had jumped back in time. The Kryptonians had done a bit of research into the subject but Harry had not yet had the time to delve into the topic much.

"I am," Harry agreed. "If you'd like some day we could explore other universes."

"I think I might like that," Hermione agreed as she and her boyfriend came within sight of her home.

Harry immediately knew that he had made a mistake. Even at this distance Harry could see the door was slightly ajar on the Granger's front door. He had assumed that because the Grangers had not been targeted by black magic users in his past life that they wouldn't in this life. Hermione stiffened against him as the window of her parents' living room was lit up with an angry red light.

"Harry," Hermione said in terror.

"I suggest staying back, love. I don't know if you're ready for this," Harry shouted back at his girlfriend as he took off at a run towards the Granger house.

Harry recognized the light of the cruciatus being applied and due to the lack of screams coming from inside he correctly surmised that a silencing charm had been utilized. The cruciatus curse use actually gave Harry hope because it meant that at least one Granger parent was still alive. As he drew closer to the house the mage sent out his senses probing inside and detected only one magical occupant. The door smashed open as Harry hit it and slammed against the wall. By the time Walden McNair had ended the cruciatus being cast on Dan while a bound Emma watched Harry was upon the Death Eater.

Walden had been enjoying himself torturing a filthy muggle. He heard a crash behind him and whirled to see only a blur of motion. The next thing he knew he was slammed against the floor with his air being cut off by a powerful grip. He saw Harry Potter staring down at him with green eyes blazing brightly with anger.

Hermione ran through the open door into her living room with her wand already drawn. Her quick mind processed the scene. The first act she undertook after processing the scene was to send ropes at the wizard she recognized as the Ministry executioner from when the bastard was sent to kill Buckbeak. She followed this up with a stunner for good measure. Then she released her mother from the ropes binding Emma.

Emma and Hermione then both rushed towards the groaning and still twitching Dan.

Harry came over and knelt next to Dan's head before saying, "Dan, I know you are in a ton of pain. Drink this potion and then I am going to put you to sleep. Trust me when I say you don't want to be awake right now."

Dan nodded before wincing as the movement aggravated his muscles. He drank down the potion contained within a silver flask and started to immediately feel a bit of relief.

"That _is_ a bit better," Dan rasped out, his throat raw from screaming.

"Don't try to talk dad," Hermione urged. "We will take care of everything."

Dan locked eyes with Harry and urged intently, "Keep them safe while I am out."

"I will," Harry assured before passing his hand over Dan's forehead.

Dan fell unconscious with his head in Emma's lap. Harry levitated Dan onto the nearby couch. Emma was crying and shivering. If the thoughts she was projecting were any indication Harry wasn't surprised.

"Harry, we need to get out of here," Hermione said worriedly.

"Relax, love," Harry said reassuringly. "I am going to take you to my home and then I will come back and take care of things. Sit on the couch please." Hermione sat down while lifting her father's legs onto her lap. Harry stepped behind the couch and placed his hands on it. Apparition worked by using wormholes over extremely short distances. The squeezing sensation apparition users described was caused when squeezing their mass through these wormholes. The more power a magician could transfer into the apparition the less squeezing was required. When taking passengers this was made even harder. The Grangers benefited from the fact that Harry was both extremely skilled and incredibly powerful. One moment they were in their living room and the next they were in the Longbottom's sitting room. "Let's get Dan into a bed. Lanry," Harry called.

"Yes Master Harry," Lanry said after he had appeared.

"Could you take Dan and Emma to the spare bedroom next to mine and see to it that they are comfortable. Please put Emma to sleep," Harry requested.

The elf nodded and with a snap of fingers was levitating Dan with Emma following behind. Hermione pulled her boyfriend down onto the couch and crawled into his lap. Harry hugged Hermione tightly as she began to cry and shake. He slowly rubbed her back for time and let her get the heartache out of her system.

"Harry, they tortured my dad," Hermione whispered as she slowly brought her crying under control.

"I know, love. For that MacNair will never harm anyone again," Harry promised.

"What are you going to do to him?" Hermione asked.

"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, Hermione," Harry cautioned.

Hermione pulled her head back to look at her boyfriend's features. She saw his eyes were unflinching. There was a hardness there that resembled his resolved face whenever he was facing off against danger. But his current expression was more mature, more ready to commit violence in defense of himself and those he cared about.

"Harry, you don't need to keep secrets from me," Hermione replied in a quiet voice.

Harry was confident Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to know but felt her curiosity and her need to be as close to him as she could push her forward.

"MacNair will never be heard from again. Let's leave it at that for now," Harry suggested. "He came to your house to kill you and your family."

Harry had sent a messenger spell to Alice a short while before and she arrived in the room at that moment.

"What has happened?" Alice asked.

"MacNair attacked the Grangers. Dan is sleeping off the cruciatus in the spare bedroom next to mine. Emma is with him and also asleep. I gave him a nerve regenerating potion," Harry explained. "Can you look after Hermione while I go clean up at their home?"

Alice nodded as she sat down next to Hermione. Hermione allowed the older woman to pull her into a hug and watched as Harry disappeared. Alice didn't object to Harry going into potential danger after having observed him in action against Dementors so recently. Harry could obviously take care of himself.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"How are you feeling this morning?" Harry asked Dan and Emma as the elder Grangers came and sat at the Longbottom's breakfast table.

Augusta ate early and had already had her breakfast and left the house to perform her errands and be about her business. Neville was sitting to Harry's right and Hermione to his left. Alice was sitting across the table from Neville. Dan and Emma sat across from Hermione and Harry next to Alice.

"I feel pretty sore but we are alive," Dan answered. "That is really what counts. Thank you, Harry."

"Of course," Harry said.

"Why did that scumbag attack us?" Emma asked. "He wanted to know where Hermione was. He didn't even know Harry was there."

"Mum, Dad, there is something I haven't wanted to tell you for a long time. I told you Harry was famous for stopping a dark wizard who tried to kill him and did kill his parents. I didn't tell you why the dark wizard targeted the Potters," Hermione began. "There was a war over blood purity in the magical world. The same war has been fought over and over for the last millennia or so and probably even before that. Some purebloods think they are better than non-magicals and those born from non-magicals. They think muggleborns are the lowest of the low."

"So a magical version of Hitler and his ideals," Emma clarified.

"I have never heard it put like that but that is essentially correct," Alice answered.

"And your daughter has consistently showed that these notions the blood purists hold dear are a load of dung because she outperforms them all," Neville explained.

"I can see why you didn't tell us," Dan mused. "I think we should go on a long vacation."

"Daddy, in a little over a year I will be of age. If you want me to continue speaking to you after I move out you won't try to take me away from Harry," Hermione warned, her resolve clear in her demeanor with her hand holding Harry's tightly beneath the table.

Dan and Emma appeared stymied by this reaction for a moment before Emma tried a different approach.

"And you are ok with Neville and Harry being subjected to this kind of danger?" Emma asked Alice.

"While it is true that there is a great amount of danger present in our world the same holds true for the non-magical world. This radical faction whose members call themselves Death Eaters routinely went out into the non-magical world and slaughtered innocent people by the dozens before Harry stopped their leader," Alice explained. "The truth is you are far safer with magical protections around your home than being ignorant and running. That lack of wards is what allowed last night to happen."

"I have since remedied the problem with wards around your home," Harry announced, causing the eyebrows of the magicals present to rise considerably.

"What?" Emma asked, noticing the expressions of the other magicals present.

"Wards are quite expensive because of the difficulty in erecting them," Neville explained.

"Besides that…I'm not sure how Harry would get a curse breaking team to erect the wards on such short notice," Alice added.

"I didn't. I erected them myself," Harry pointed out.

It was Emma who broke the silence that followed by saying, "Thank you Harry."

"I would do anything for Hermione and want what will make her happy. Keeping her parents safe is part of that. When you finish eating I can take you back to your home and show you how to work the wards," Harry suggested.

The elder Grangers nodded in agreement. When later asked what had happened to MacNair Harry only responded that MacNair would never bother the Grangers again. Normally Dan Granger would have had a great deal of trouble with that response but while being put under the cruciatus MacNair had made his intent known to Dan. MacNair had stated that he intended to rape both Hermione and Emma to death while Dan watched. Dan was happy to read through the lines at Harry's implied meaning. As far as Dan Granger was concerned Harry Potter was a very good boyfriend for his daughter to have.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"Can I talk to you for a minute Dan?" Harry asked after having knocked on the door frame of Dan's study the door of which had been open.

"Harry, after what you have done for my family you can talk to me for ten," Dan replied while gesturing to a seat across from him. "What is on your mind?"

Harry took the offered seat. It wasn't missed on Dan that the younger man had a serious expression. Since the attack two days ago that expression had been on Harry's face more often than Dan liked. But then again Dan guessed a lot of seriousness was required after an attack like his family had just suffered. The wards Dan and his family had been shown had been quite impressive to Dan and his wife. Hermione's reaction to the wards had been even more telling for the two dentists who knew very little about magic compared to their daughter. Hermione had been extremely surprised by the protections her boyfriend had erected.

"I wanted to give you this. I just gave Emma and Hermione theirs," Harry explained as he drew a rolled up garment out of an obviously magically expanded pocket.

Dan unrolled the material to find a body suit that looked to be his size. The material reflected light oddly for a moment and appeared to be reasonably thick. Then Dan noticed the material had changed color where he touched it before taking on his skin tone throughout the rest of the suit.

"What does it do other than just changing color?" Dan asked. "I assume it is some kind of protection."

"This suit is something my company has been developing. This suit will protect you from a lot of magical attacks. It will also stop a lot of physical attacks including bullets. It will make you faster when you need to dodge something and will allow you to survive in a range of hostile environments," Harry explained, leaving out the features which would make the suit's wearer practically as strong as a Kryptonian.

The suit was a blend of technology from future Earth, both non-magical and magical, and Krypton. The strength enhancements would activate if the suit's limited AI deemed the wearer needed them desperately. The capabilities Harry had told Dan, Emma, and Hermione their suits would give them were already pushing what even a genius of the time period could create without a few more years of research. Indeed, the Grangers were no fools and Dan's next comment proved this.

"This seems fantastic for something created so quickly after the formation of your company only a few short weeks ago," Dan commented.

"I have been personally working on that suit for years. It is one of the first projects I started. Discovering magic gave me a way to bypass the limitations of our current level of technology," Harry replied.

Nodding, Dan said, "Thank you, Harry. I'm not sure why you are doing all of this for my family but I thank you none the less."

"I will say it again. Hermione is important to me like no one else in this world, Dan," Harry explained. "You are important to her therefore your safety is important to me."

"Fair enough," Dan said with a grin.

Harry left Dan to try on the suit.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

**Smut Scene Not Shown Here (See Hpfanficarchive profile of the same name for smut version)**

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry sat in a love seat next to Hermione with their hips touching. Each had a computer monitor attached to a swivel arm positioned in front of them with wireless keyboards and mice controlling the computers as they worked away. Ostensibly Hermione was doing some school work for the classes she and Harry were taking at a non-magical university. Harry had told Hermione that he had been taking classes in the non-magical world for years which helped explain why he had been able to accomplish so much. She had asked her boyfriend to set up courses for her with the same university. Harry had proven to be a genius to his professors at uni and so when he vouched for his girlfriend they were willing to accept her after a few tests. Of course money helped greatly.

To Hermione it looked as if her boyfriend was doing work for his company thanks to a trick of the light and holographic tech built into his monitor. In reality Harry was currently checking up on the status of Fallen Prison. Fallen Prison was tied to the temporal dimension Harry stored all of his belongings in within a sub-dimension he had constructed using Phantom Zone technology invented by Kara's uncle Jor El. The prison held the worst of the worst black magic practitioners that the public thought dark wizard hunter Harry Potter had taken out over his long life. There were dark magic users Harry had killed of course but a lot of them were put to better use. The prisoners in Fallen were not conscious. They weren't even allowed to dream. They were attached to life support technology which provided their body nutrients and saw to all bodily functions. The technology in the prison extracted raw magic from the prisoners and fed it to whatever task Harry wished. Harry input food into the prison and got out massive amounts of magic from the hundreds of prisoners within. Many of the practitioners of the black arts were quite powerful, some even on the caliber of Voldemort.

Harry had never had trouble with the prison and there were many fail-safes in place but he still routinely monitored the status of the prisoners and the power output of the prison. Most enchantments and spells were self sustaining and drew the necessary energy to power themselves from the same dimension magicians drew their power from. But there was a limit to how much power these enchantments could draw before their connections with this other dimension snapped like a fuse burning out when too much power was drawn through. Wizards and witches had much stronger connections to the magical dimension and could therefore actively cast much stronger magic. In the future Harry had figured out how to tie the power output of Fallen Prison to various enchantments he had cast such as wards. This meant the wards could be much more reactive to threats. The augmentation suits Dan, Emma, and Hermione had been given also benefited from this extra power.

Hermione was a very happy young witch. She sat beside her boyfriend trying to do some school work but found it difficult to concentrate on anything but him and how he made her feel. Her body ached in a good way. She and Harry had barely been able to keep their hands off of each other since they had taken their relationship to the next level the day before. Hermione had it bad for Harry and was pretty sure he felt the same way. She was rather anxious to tell Harry that she loved him but she had done quite a bit of research on the subject of relationships. There were no hard and fast rules and goodness knows her relationship with the boy sitting next to her wasn't exactly normal but the generally accepted convention was to wait a few months of dating to tell someone you loved them. Hermione found this infuriating since she had known Harry for years already and had been in some pretty tricky situations with him but she desperately didn't want to screw up their relationship. Telling him she loved him before he was ready to say it back would not help their relationship. In fact Hermione thought it might spell the death of their relationship.

Hermione was also smart enough to realize that given their recent increased intimacy she might be confusing a healthy dose of lust with love. But she was pretty sure in her own heart that she was falling in love with Harry if she wasn't already completely in love with him. That line of thought drove Hermione's hormones through the roof again. Memories and sensations flashed through her mind and body of the positions they had tried in bed.

While Hermione was experiencing these thoughts in a rapid fashion Harry was agonizing as well. He was a skilled telepath of unmatched order. His girlfriend was not yet an occlumens and she was projecting her thoughts so much he couldn't help but pick up on her thoughts despite the bracelet he had given her which specifically blocked legilimens from actively reading her. Unfortunately physical contact and proximity greatly reduced an occlumens' ability to shield themselves from a telepath and the enchantments on Hermione's bracelet worked the same way.

Harry could tell Hermione he loved her and be truthful about it but the logic Hermione was going through was somewhat sound. Her chain of logic just didn't take into account time travelers and the fact that Harry had had the opportunity to realize his feelings for Hermione after losing her. If he told her he loved her right now she would fret that he had told her too soon and had risked damaging their relationship. It would plant a seed of doubt inside of her. Therefore he would wait until they had been dating longer.

"Hermione, I can hear your mind thinking furiously from here," Harry said. "Calm down."

Hermione turned to look at her boyfriend and asked, "How did you know?"

"You get this look on your face when something is frustrating you. Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked.

"Not right now. I'll figure it out," Hermione assured, wanting to talk about anything but what she was contemplating.

"Well perhaps I can take your mind off of it for now. Let's give your brain a rest," Harry suggested before pulling Hermione into a kiss.

She eagerly responded and welcomed the embrace. She threaded her fingers into the unruly dark hair of her lover and sucked on his tongue as it entered her mouth. His hands went lower and cupped her bum. Their mice and keyboards floated away as he pulled her on top of him. The rest was pure passion and sensation.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Emma Granger looked out her window just in time to see Harry and Hermione return from their bike ride. The two teens were grinning and laughing as they shot across the front yard, along the side of the house, and into the back yard. Emma moved to the back window and saw her daughter and Harry jumping into the in-ground pool in their back yard. The pool had been installed by Harry and Hermione the previous day. The bikes had been transfigured. Emma was always amazed while watching her daughter perform magic. Hermione being a witch made Emma proud and filled her with awe. As she watched the young couple frolicking in the pool splashing each other she felt a familiar set of arms encircle her from behind.

"What are you doing?" Dan asked before he spotted the teens. "Ah, I see."

"Do you see how happy he makes her?" Emma asked her husband.

"I would have to be blind not to see it," Dan admitted. "Have you observed any of their training sessions?"

As if their ears were burning Harry and Hermione rose up to the surface of the water, appearing to stand on the surface without effort. Each held their wand at the ready. Hermione twirled her wand while it was directed at the water behind her and a stream of water twisted through the air. At the flick of her wrist the water directed by Hermione shot towards Harry.

Harry's wand barely moved and the water froze. Harry's eyes were focused. A blue spell shot from his wand and impacted the frozen water. The ice shattered and shot back at Hermione, causing Emma to tense up involuntarily. Hermione reacted well and cast a glowing pink shield that the ice disintegrated against. When Hermione dropped her shield Harry was already gone.

"I'm not falling for that one again, Harry," Hermione told her boyfriend as she sent a spray of water up in the air all around her hoping to see where her invisible lover was.

Hermione realized her mistake when she felt a pair of familiar hands wrap around her ankles and pull her down into the water so suddenly she barely had time to take a breath. The breath wasn't needed because within moments Harry's mouth was pressing against Hermione's sharing vital oxygen. Hermione stopped struggling and welcomed the kiss. As he held her the pair rose back onto the surface kissing.

"Yes," Emma answered her husband although the response was unnecessary. "I find them to be quite swift and brutal."

"Harry always wins from what I can see but Hermione is learning quickly," Dan admitted. "I would rather she knew how to defend herself than not."

"I agree," Emma said. "They are so good together. Hermione has told me witches and wizards usually get married young and divorce doesn't happen very often, something about their magic assuring that a couple is compatible. You know they are having sex now right?"

"Yes," Dan admitted. "I figured it out two days ago. It suddenly came to me when I saw how intimate they were while watching TV. I can't say that I like it but I know we can't stop it. If we did we would just end up pushing her away."

Emma turned in her husband's arms and said, "Dan Granger, when did you get so wise?"

With a grin Dan replied, "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I think you rubbed off on me."

"Mmm…I would definitely like to rub off on you," Emma said suggestively as she ground her mound against his right thigh. "Don't worry…they are using protection."

His voice husky Dan replied, "Good. I am not ready to be a grandpa just yet. Let's go upstairs."

No more words were needed as Dan and Emma's lips met.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Alice materialized on a residential street in London. They were standing in a small square across from Grimmauld Place. Because the four had already been shown the secret beforehand they were spared the effect of Number 12 revealing itself from the Fidelius Charm.

"It's that one," Harry said while indicating Number 12 with a nod of his head.

Harry led the way over to the House of Black.

"A right cheery place," Neville said wryly.

"Just what you would expect from the Blacks," Alice added, agreeing with her son's sentiments.

"The whole street doesn't seem to be very well kept up," Hermione observed after Harry had knocked using the silver doorknocker.

Suddenly an unholy shrieking could be heard from within.

"**Mudblood defilers! Get out of my house! Die scum not fit to touch the bottom of my shoes!**" Harry heard the familiar voice of Walburga Black screeching.

The door was hurriedly opened by Remus Lupin who upon seeing the four people on the door step of Number 12 gestured them inside. Normally Remus would have been suspicious of anybody coming calling in such troubled times but with the Fidelius Charm in effect some of his normal suspicion could be reasonably dispensed with.

"Be silent you vile woman!" Sirius Black was shouting as he wrestled with one side of the curtains covering his mother's magical portrait.

Nym was struggling with the other side of the curtains. The air disturbed by Walburga's shouting was like a gale force wind to those standing in front of it. Harry ran up the steps until he was standing on the landing in front of the painting. He drew his wand and began a series of complicated movements while chanting for twenty seconds. His words were drowned out by Walburga but at the end of the chant a crackling snap came from the painting and the entire house shuddered. The portrait dropped to the floor. A simple silencing charm then cut Walburga's rant off.

Sirius and Nym gaped at the painting for a moment before turning to look at Harry in amazement.

"Cor, how did you do that? Even Dumbledore couldn't get that painting off the wall," Nym said.

"Dumbledore doesn't have access to Potter family magics," Harry said easily enough. "That crazy witch tied her portrait into the house's wards."

Sirius enveloped his godson in a hug.

"Damn Harry you know how to make an entrance," Sirius declared. "Are you taller than me now?"

"Yep," Harry said with a grin.

To Remus, Sirius said, "They grow up so fast." Then Sirius spotted Alice and his grin returned even greater. "Alice Longbottom, you're a sight for sore eyes."

"And you Sirius Black are just a sight that is sore on the eyes," Alice replied. "Hello Remus, it's good to see you again."

"And you as well, Alice," Remus greeted one of his friends from school he had thought lost as Sirius broke into a full belly laugh at Alice's retort.

Introductions were made for those who didn't know each other.

"Come into the kitchen you lot and we will have a cup of tea," Sirius invited.

Tea was served by a very familiar house elf.

"Thank you Dobby," Harry said to the elf as he accepted the tea.

"Yous is welcome, Master Harry," Dobby replied.

"How did Dobby come to be working here, Sirius?" Hermione questioned.

"Dumbledore arranged it after my old elf, Kreacher, mysteriously turned up dead," Sirius explained, his expression of innocence fooling no one. "Good riddance I say. That vile old elf was brainwashed by my mother the worst of the lot who lived here."

"A couple of hours earlier and you lot would have run into the Order. We had a meeting then," Nym informed the guests.

"We know," Alice replied. "We had no wish to run into most members of the Order."

This caused several eyebrows to rise in surprise.

"Your friend Ron was here," Remus added to Harry and Hermione, watching their reaction. "All the Weasleys still in Hogwarts were here."

"Has Dumbledore announced our relationship to the entire Order?" Harry asked while holding up Hermione's hand in his.

Nym hadn't noticed the hand holding before and appeared crestfallen for a moment before she schooled her features. Harry noticed her brief expression and felt a pang of pain in his chest. Despite the fact that he loved Hermione, Nym would always hold a special place in his heart and he hated seeing her in pain. He made a mental note to talk to her about it later.

"Dumbledore told me and I told Remus," Sirius explained. "I don't think he could have told anybody else while he was here but I can't be sure. He arrived right at the start of the meeting and left right after. I had eyes on him the whole time Dumbledore was in my house. He didn't announce it though."

"Congratulations by the way," Remus added while Sirius nodded.

Nym offered a smile but it looked strained. Nym had grown to like the famous wizard she had spent the summer guarding until his move to Longbottom Manor.

"Thanks. We have a feeling Ron and Ginny will be less than pleased by the news. We want to avoid that scene as long as possible," Hermione stated.

"Scene is an understatement," Neville muttered. At the look Sirius, Remus, and Nym were giving him Neville elaborated. "Ron has liked Hermione for a while and is insanely jealous of Harry. Ron didn't know how to express his attention in a healthy way so just picked fights with her. Instead of it being a flirtatious banter he was just cruel. To say Ron is likely going to be displeased is like saying Lucius Malfoy dislikes non-magicals."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Remus inquired.

"Hermione and I are together. Ron can't change that. He can either choose to behave maturely or he can toss off," Harry answered.

"So Remus, I know this idiot got himself tossed into Azkaban for over a decade for running off half cocked. What have you been up to while I have been out of it?" Alice asked after having indicated Sirius with a gesture when talking about an idiot.

Throwing an amused glance at Sirius the werewolf answered, "I have been bouncing from job to job in the muggle world. I've been working for Dumbledore since the Order reformed. It doesn't pay much but I get by."

"I offered you a job," Sirius pointed out.

Rolling his eyes at Sirius, Remus rebutted, "I am not going to go pick up women for you to bring them back to this place."

Sirius' whine was far too dog like.

A grinning Alice teased, "Has Sirius Black lost his touch? The Sirius I knew never needed Remus' help."

"The Sirius you knew wasn't a wanted criminal," Sirius pointed out.

"I've got a surprise," Harry said as he pulled a shrunken object out of his pocket and set it on the table.

Alice automatically enlarged the object so that magic use in front of an Auror wasn't carried out by minors.

"A pensieve! Cor, those are expensive," Nym declared. "Where did you get that?"

"Around," Harry answered. "I would like memories of my father from your perspective," he said to Sirius and Remus. "Alice already gave me a ton of memories of my mum."

"We would be happy to, pup," Sirius agreed as he started extracting memories and placing them into transfigured glass vials.

Remus placed charms on the vials to keep them from breaking. It wasn't lost on the others that Sirius was struggling to perform the spells.

"That wand isn't suited to you, Sirius," Harry observed.

"It isn't a wand that was matched for me. Remus had to retrieve it from less reputable sources," Sirius explained.

Harry reached into his pocket which had a portal connected to his trunk enchanted into the material and drew out a midnight black wand and passed it to Sirius.

"Try this wand," Harry suggested.

Sirius took the wand and tried casting a lumos spell. The entire house lit up with a brilliant light.

"Bloody hell, Harry!" Sirius exclaimed. "Where did you get a wand so closely matched to me and one so powerful to boot."

"I made it," Harry answered. "Hold out your hand with the wand in your palm." Sirius did as instructed and Harry cast a charm silently which transferred a small amount of blood into the wand. "There. Now that wand will only work for you. Don't ever let that wand go. These are too powerful to fall into the wrong hands."

"What is the core material?" Remus asked curiously.

"A semi-stable form of dark matter and negative matter," Harry said offhandedly. Hermione gaped at her boyfriend. The others just looked confused. Without pausing to give Hermione time to ask more questions Harry changed the subject, "Remus, I could use some people to work for my company. Are you interested in a sales position? I am looking to expand my product line into the magical world."

"I don't want charity, Harry," Remus replied.

"Do not be a fool, Remus Lupin," Alice rebutted. "Harry isn't offering you charity. He is offering you a job. You will be working hard to earn your money."

"Alright," Remus agreed.

"We can discuss the specifics later," Harry stated, earning a nod from the werewolf.

"So what is new?" Hermione inquired.

"Percy Weasley got promoted in the Ministry to the Minister's staff," Nym announced. "Harry told me how much you lot love him."

The sarcasm was plain in Nym's voice.

"People fail upwards in bureaucracies," Harry pointed out.

"Molly Weasley wouldn't shut up about her son. Apparently he and his father had a falling out over this supposed promotion," Sirius mused. "Just having to hear that woman's voice is making me have second thoughts about letting the Order use this place."

Harry didn't say it out loud but privately he agreed with his godfather.

"If you ever want to get out of the Ministry there is a spot open for you in my company, Nym," Harry told his friend.

"Thanks. I will think about it. The grind of that place hasn't yet gotten me down yet. But I can see it in some of the older Aurors," Nym admitted.

"So what do you think about how the Prophet has been trashing you, Harry?" Sirius asked his godson.

"It isn't the Prophet so much as one reporter in particular. Rita Skeeter will be getting hers soon enough," Harry assured. "After I am finished with that creature nobody will dare screw around with me anymore."

Exchanging a nervous glance with Sirius, Remus asked, "What did you have in mind?"

Harry's smile was positively feral and he said, "You will see. I am the heir of a Marauder. I will prove it." To Sirius, Harry requested, "Sirius, could I speak to you privately for a moment?"

"Sure pup," Sirius agreed before standing and leading Harry out of the dining room.

Sirius led Harry into a familiar room for the time traveler where a tapestry with several scorch marks hung on one wall. It was Sirius' family tree and his name was burned off. Harry's wand appeared in his hand without Sirius even seeing him draw it and the foci whipped through the air. Sirius observed several recognizable privacy charms going up and others he wasn't familiar with.

Sirius' eyebrows went up and he looked at Harry inquiringly.

"I don't like having my conversations overheard," Harry said.

"Where did you learn all those charms and how did you figure out that your magic can't be tracked by the Ministry here?" Sirius asked.

Sirius' own magical signature was rendered untraceable while he was within the wards of his ancestral home. If he stepped outside of those wards and used anything other than low level magic he had best be prepared to vacate the area because the Aurors would be able to track him to the location where the moderately powerful magic was performed.

"Put this on. It is going to be a bit painful going on but it will block the Ministry from tracking your magical signature outside this house," Harry explained as he handed his godfather a wrist-band.

Sirius put the wrist-band on and felt a very unpleasant and even painful sensation throughout his entire body. The pain only lasted a few seconds but those were several seconds Sirius wouldn't want to go through again.

"Where did you get this?" Sirius asked.

"I made it. Your magical signature has just been forced to alter," Harry answered.

Sirius looked up from his examination of the bracelet to his godson with awe. Sirius hadn't known a magical signature could be altered. He knew it could be suppressed and the methods of tracking the Ministry had at its disposal could be scattered and dispersed but not that his signature could be altered.

"You haven't answered my questions," Sirius pointed out.

"I can't answer your questions. Hermione deserves those answers first because she is the one I love. I love you too Sirius but not in that way," Harry said in a teasing wink. "I am not yet ready to tell her. I gave her and Neville similar wrist-bands and told them you bought them for us overseas. Please don't let on that I lied. You need to trust me for now. I promise you that I am your godson and that I am not in trouble."

Sirius felt a tremble in the magic in the room. The magic pulsed for a moment and then swelled. He could _feel_ the truth in Harry's words.

"I trust you Harry. I will go along with this for now. This means I can go out," Sirius said happily.

"Just make sure you use charms to disguise yourself," Harry replied.

"Sure," Sirius agreed.

Harry wanted to tell Sirius more but Hermione deserved to know the truth first.

"Let's rejoin the others," Harry suggested.

The conversation in the dining room lasted for several hours more before Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Alice left with the promise of returning soon.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 9/13/2014


	4. Chapter 4

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 4

Lord Voldemort was standing in his headquarters currently located in a subterranean structure below Edinburg, a place he had constructed during his last war and someplace nobody would expect him to be. He was currently discussing attempts to bring various allies to his cause with Lucius. A streak of bright light shot down from the ceiling and straight into Voldemort's chest.

"My Lord," Lucius cried in surprise, his wand in his hand.

Voldemort waved Lucius off as he drew the envelope the light had resolved into off of his chest. His magical senses told him no harm would come to him from the letter. He examined the envelope and saw that it was addressed to _Tom Marvolo Riddle_.

After opening the letter Tom began to read.

_Tommy Boy,_

_I hope having a body back finds you well. Thank you ever so much for making it easier for me to kill you, dumb shit. I have been reading a lot about your tactics during the last war. I found it curious that you mainly attacked muggles who couldn't really defend themselves. You must be one scared little shit inside to pull the tactics you did. But then we already know this since you attacked me when I was just a baby. You were that scared of me!_

_Even now you are hiding in the shadows, not revealing yourself to the magical world. Know that while you continue to hide I am going to make a mockery of you. When I am done with you nobody will fear your name. Have fun buggering Lucius._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry James Potter_

_Kicker of Voldemort's Ass as a Baby_

Lucius remained silent as he watched Voldemort's expression start to grow more severe until he could feel the angry black magic permeating from the dark lord like a force of nature. Then something curious happened. A spray of brown substance shot forth from the parchment Voldemort held and coated his body. Riddle's lips had been peeled back from his teeth in a silent snarl while reading the letter and therefore he got shit on his teeth.

"Potter," Voldemort snarled.

Riddle threw the parchment away and made to destroy it but he wasn't fast enough. A torrent of acid, magically enhanced, shot from the parchment and sprayed all over Riddle. Some got Lucius too and the vile liquid began eating at their flesh. Riddle's wand twisted through the air in a complicated movement that saw all of the fecal matter and acid vanish from the room along with the letter. He stunned a screaming Lucius before he sent a summons off to Snape. He would need healing potions to treat these burns. Riddle made sure to remove the memory of the cause of the burns from Lucius mind and replace it with the memory of a magical accident while experimenting with dark magic being the cause. It wouldn't do for Voldemort's followers to see him suffer such an attack.

"Potter, I will make you pay," Voldemort hissed into the silence of the room as he cast pain numbing charms on himself while waiting for Snape to arrive.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry Potter materialized inside the Daily Prophet building located at the far end of Diagon Alley a considerable distance from the Leaky Cauldron portion of the alley. It was the dead of night. Despite that the printing press was going strong churning out the morning edition of the paper. The night crew didn't notice a thing as Harry walked towards the printing press. Harry quickly found the printing control unit which controlled the press and which was in turn controlled by the editor's office.

The time traveling mage drew his wand and began what would be several hours of complex spell crafting. It would prove to be time well spent.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

When Sirius Black opened his Daily Prophet the next morning he saw the usual headlines. Two seconds later the entire page changed and revealed an article that caused Sirius to spit out his tea.

_**Dark Lord is Really a Half Blood Bastard**_

_By Lily Evans Potter_

_That's right readers, you read that correctly. The dark wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort is really a half blood born to a muggle Tom Riddle Senior and Merope Gaunt from the town of Little Hangleton. In fact the words "I am Lord Voldemort" is an anagram for the dark lord's true name, Tom Marvolo Riddle (Junior of course). The tale of Tom's past is a tragic one involving love potions and a young witch deluded by lust and what she believed was love. _

The article then went on to detail that story. Sirius read with rapt attention. The article was well written with plenty of picture evidence from the scenes and events being described. Sirius had no clue how Lily could be writing something like this if it was in fact her article but he suspected his godson was involved.

_I don't know about you readers but this writer finds the fact that the purebloods bow and kiss the feet of someone they claim to fight against rather amusing._

Sirius continued to read the paper and found more startling articles. Two headlines caught his attention before he ever got to actually reading the content of the articles.

_**Minister Gripped by Fear and Refuses to Admit Dark Lord's Return**_

_**Minister Bribes Daily Prophet Management to Wage Libel War Against Dumbledore and Boy Who Lived **_

Sirius quickly read through the articles and was stunned by just how much the paper was revealing to the public. Sirius barely finished reading before he reached over and pulled the laptop sitting nearby onto his lap. As he booted the computer up Sirius couldn't help but think of his mother rolling around in her grave if she knew of his use of a piece of muggle technology like a computer. Sirius, Remus, and Nymphadora had all received a laptop and basic training on how to use them. Sirius was quite intrigued by his godson's company and newly revealed technological and magical prowess. Sirius brought up the instant messaging application and sent a message to Harry.

_Sirius: Pup, are you there?_

_Harry: Of course. If I'm not at my computer the message gets sent to a phone I carry with me._

That wasn't strictly true. If Harry wasn't on his computer the message would get routed to his neural link. Harry didn't think Sirius would be able to follow the science of a nanite composed neural link anytime soon so didn't even try explaining that.

_Sirius: I just saw the Prophet. Was that your doing?_

_Harry: Yep. I spelled the Prophet's printing press. The text will change at a trigger spell from me after delivery. The employees at the Prophet are freaking out right now trying to figure out what happened. They won't find a thing._

_Sirius: I am laughing my butt off right now, Pup. That is a prank worthy of a Marauder._

A website address suddenly appeared from Harry and Sirius clicked on it. The webpage showed a list of short hand conventions for saying various common phrases.

_Harry: The correct response is ROFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing) or LMAO (Laughing My Ass Off)_

_Sirius: Noted_

_Harry: Wait until you see what I have planned next._

_Sirius: Any hints?_

_Harry: Not on your life. Go distract yourself with some porn._

This was followed by another webpage link. At that moment Sirius Black discovered the wonderful world of internet porn. There was no more talking needed.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Cornelius Fudge stared at the morning Prophet with a look of horror. The articles written by someone claiming to be Lily Potter were pretty damning. The picture showing a nose-less and hairless wizard standing in a graveyard holding a white wand, his features twisted in a mask of pure hate, was pretty damning. Cornelius didn't think this could be anyone but Lord Voldemort reborn as Potter had claimed. Cornelius only hoped that his campaign to damage Potter's reputation would keep voters from actually believing the stories. Cornelius didn't realize how delusional those hopes were.

He stood from his desk and strode over to his fire.

Throwing in some floo powder he called, "Daily Prophet Editor's Office."

The Prophet Editor, John Ashby, had some questions to answer for the Minister.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"You wanted to see us, Madam Bones," Kingsley Shacklebolt asked as he took a seat in Amelia's office in front of her desk alongside his junior partner, one Nymphadora Tonks.

"Yes I do, Kingsley," Amelia confirmed as she flicked her wand at her door, closing it and causing several runic privacy wards to activate. "I assume you have noticed the Prophet's newest articles?"

"Of course," Kingsley confirmed.

The entire Ministry was in an uproar about the articles from Lily Potter as was likely most of the country.

"I want you to investigate the claims made in the Prophet articles. Find out if Voldemort has really returned. Maybe Harry Potter also knows about the author of these articles?" Amelia said.

"Excuse me, Madam Bones," Nym spoke up, drawing the attention of her boss and partner. "I think maybe I can help speed up things here."

Amelia and Kingsley watched in interest as Tonks drew out a rectangular shaped object from an obviously expanded pocket of her robes. The object turned out to be a carrying case for another object which the witch then opened up to reveal a piece of non-magical technology. Tonks then started making the machine work.

"How is that working in the Ministry here, Auror Tonks?" Amelia questioned.

"Harry's company Potter Tech licked the problem of magic around technology for the most part. As long as you don't start cursing this laptop it will function. I am just contacting Harry," Nym explained.

"Do you care if we watch?" Kingsley queried.

"Not at all," Nym agreed as Amelia and Kingsley stood and came behind her chair to look over her shoulder.

_Nym: Harry, I need to talk to you._

_Harry: What's up Nym?_

_Nym: My boss wants to talk to you about those articles in the Prophet._

_Harry: Give me a moment to wrap up what I am doing and I'll be right over._

_Nym: Ok._

Nym closed down her laptop and put it away.

"That is quite a useful tool you have there," Amelia observed as she retook her seat.

"Harry is brilliant and comes up with amazing things," Nym replied. "I should warn you…he is a bit eccentric."

"Susan has never really said anything about him beyond the fact that she thinks he is cute," Amelia admitted.

"Bloody gorgeous," Nym confirmed, making Kingsley uncomfortable.

A moment later there was a knock at the door and Amelia opened it with her wand. Amelia was expecting the spitting image of James Potter from what she had heard about Harry but he was built differently than his father. Harry was taller and more muscular than James had ever been.

"Harry, you got here quick," Nym commented. "This is Madam Bones and this is my partner Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Too quick Mr. Potter," Amelia said as she shook Harry's hand.

"Magic makes anything possible. Call me Harry please," Harry said as he shook Kingsley's hand and took a seat to the left of Nym. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could perhaps elaborate on the articles in the Prophet today supposedly penned by your mother," Amelia probed. "Could you also provide additional evidence of Voldemort's return?"

"I have no idea where those articles came from," Harry lied with a completely straight face and flat tone. "That being said…I can provide the evidence those articles indicated. Here are memories that those newspaper images back up."

Harry produced multiple labeled vials in a carrying case and set them on Madam Bones' desk.

"I am afraid my department does not possess a pensieve, Harry," Amelia admitted.

Harry produced a silver bowel carved with glowing runes along with a leather bound booklet.

"These are being sold by my company Potter Tech. You will find them much cheaper and easier to locate than your standard pensieve. It is my hope that every magical home in the country will have a personal pensieve within a year. My analysts tell me that the pornographic memories will be quite a hit," Harry announced.

There was silence in the office. Wizarding Britain was quite behind the times and so Amelia had to seek clarification.

"Pornographic memories?" Amelia prompted.

"Sex memories," Nym answered. "Some adult muggles routinely enjoy watching other couples have sex on their televisions. Will you be starring in any of these memories, Harry?"

"I would but I don't think my girlfriend would like that," Harry pointed out. "Though I have dozens of encounters from before I dated Hermione," he mused.

Three sets of eyebrows lifted at that declaration.

"You are only sixteen, Potter. How could you have had dozens of memories?" Shacklebolt asked.

"I misspoke. I have dozens of partners and hundreds of memories," Harry admitted. "I'm a quick learner. But I digress…I won't betray the trust of my partners by revealing memories of my experiences with them."

Harry was rather amused at the thought of the reactions of some of the witches he had slept with who had no memory of sleeping with him before thanks to time travel. Then again given the use of memory charms by magicals maybe that wasn't such an amusing notion. Nym, Amelia, and Kingsley felt that Harry was telling the truth. Their magic told them so.

"How much do I owe you for the pensieve, Harry?" Amelia queried.

"Consider it a gift. Just tell your friends and coworkers to go buy one. The instruction booklet is pretty straightforward. There are different models. The basic model only lets you view memories. The next step up model lets you feel the emotions of whichever being is in the memory that you select. The best model lets you do the same with the sensations," Harry explained.

"So if you were to star in a pornographic memory and I chose to experience the sensations of your partner I would feel what she feels?" Nym probed.

As Potter nodded Amelia suppressed the urge to chastise her employee. It was obvious that Tonks and Potter were friends. Amelia withheld her commentary. She didn't want to alienate Potter.

"Thank you, Harry. We will begin reviewing the evidence you have given us," Amelia said.

As he stood to leave Harry added, "I will email Nym digital copies of the documentation collected on all related matters. If there is anything else you need don't hesitate to ask me."

After a nod towards the room's occupants Harry left. He heard Amelia ask Nym what email was just before the door closed.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"Have I told you today how stunning you look?" Harry asked Hermione as he held the door for her to pass through from non-magical London into the Leaky Cauldron.

"You may have mentioned it a few times," Hermione said with a grin for her boyfriend. "But a girl never tires of hearing it."

Harry ran his gaze hungrily over Hermione's form. Hermione had always been beautiful but the workouts she and Neville had been put through in their magical and non-magical combat training had really helped tone her form. Neville tapped out the sequence on the bricks barring the entrance to Diagon Alley and the archway opened up.

"Where to first?" Neville asked, feeling more comfortable in the magical alley than the non-magical portion of the city he and his friends had spent the last few hours shopping in.

"The bookstore of course," Hermione stated, earning an amused glance shared between the two wizards.

"Alright, lead the way," Harry suggested.

Hermione pulled her boyfriend along by the hand and Neville followed with. The trio stepped out of the bookstore forty-seven minutes later with quite a few shrunken books in their expanded pockets.

"Thank you _so_ much for buying me all those books, Harry," Hermione gushed before stepping closer to her boyfriend and planting a kiss on his lips.

"No problem," Harry agreed. "I'm sure you can find a good way to thank me later."

Neville blushed as Hermione answered, "Count on it."

After clearing his throat, Neville asked, "Where to now?"

Before an answer could be supplied an explosion of sound and light came from the group's right. They looked to the end of the alley opposite the non-magical London entrance and saw hundreds of flying and fire breathing serpents of various sizes descend upon shoppers. Magicians wearing black robes and the white masks of Death Eaters, a dozen of them, were tossing lethal spells left and right. Harry spotted a little girl go down to a dark cutter. The rage that came over him was only semi-sated when he apparated next to the Death Eater that had thrown the curse and snapped the vermin's neck with contemptuous ease. Six different curses came at Harry from the other Death Eaters, the least lethal of witch was an entrails expelling hex.

The flying serpents, Quetzalcoatl, launched themselves at him by the dozens. Hermione's heart stopped as she watched her boyfriend being mobbed by spells and airborne snakes. She recognized a cruciatus curse and two killing curses. There was a flash of brilliant golden light and the horde of snakes was flung back. Many were flung into buildings with spine shattering force. Hermione saw one Death Eater fly into another Death Eater with lethal momentum. Most of the Death Eaters managed to get a shield up in time. Harry sent a burst of lightning hurtling into the snake clogged environment, turning dozens of the creatures to ash.

"We should help him," Neville shouted, breaking Hermione from her trance.

As she took off down the street after Neville, Hermione watched Harry block several more killing curses with conjured stone shields which shattered under the green spell fire.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Amelia Bones was just sitting down at her desk after returning from her trip to a Potter Tech store. Amelia had picked up a laptop, a mobile phone, and several other electronics that caught her fancy. She was planning on trying these devices out for herself and then if they proved as useful as she hoped she was looking to see if her budget would support purchasing some of this equipment for her department.

Amelia's mobile phone suddenly started making noise alerting her to someone trying to contact her.

"Hello?" Amelia said into the phone as she activated it.

"Amelia," Harry Potter greeted the DMLE Director.

"Harry, I haven't even given this number out to anyone yet," Amelia pointed out.

"You purchased the phone and the service contract from my company," Harry said. "I was wondering if you might bring a few of your Aurors to Diagon Alley to join the party. I am currently fighting quite a few Death Eaters who are attacking shoppers leading a horde of Quetzalcoatl."

Amelia sat up straighter in alarm before saying, "We will arrive as soon as possible."

Amelia closed the phone and ran out of her office looking for any Aurors she could find.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Amelia and seven Aurors arrived at the Leaky Cauldron end of Diagon Alley via portkey with wands drawn. The new arrivals all spotted the fighting going on at the other end of the alley and took off towards the action. As they drew closer they saw Harry Potter battling half a dozen Death Eaters and fending off dozens upon dozens of fire breathing flying serpents. No, not just fending off but keeping the Quetzalcoatl distracted from the sheltering shoppers. Another young wizard and a young witch were engaged with three more Death Eaters, each fighting one enemy combatant while distracting the third together. Even as Amelia passed the cauldron shop she noticed one Death Eater try to portkey away from the fight with Potter only to reappear a moment later in a spray of blood and ruptured flesh. Amelia couldn't believe her eyes. A sixteen year old wizard shouldn't be able to take on so many Death Eaters let alone prevail.

Amelia sent a bone shattering curse at one of the Death Eaters as she and her Aurors jumped into the fight. Within moments Potter had taken advantage of the distraction to overwhelm the enemy.

When the last Death Eater had fallen Harry sent out a cloud of bluish mist which let off an otherworldly glow. He directed the mist to envelope the flying serpents and no one else. A horrible screeching hiss was heard from multiple beings and those present could see the bodies of the serpents twisting and writhing in agony as they were eaten by the mist like some horrible acid. Within thirty seconds all of the Quetzalcoatl were dead.

"Quite effective," Amelia said to Harry as she stepped up beside him. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, although the same cannot be said for those scum bags," Harry replied while indicating the Death Eaters.

He walked over to the little girl he had spotted going down to the cutter earlier and found she was still alive, weak but alive. He knelt down beside her and ran his glowing wand tip along the cut. He siphoned out the black magic and set her to sleeping comfortably. Conjuring a magical bed he sent her off via portkey to Saint Mungos after sending a messenger spell to float over her bed and state why she was there. Meanwhile Amelia had taken charge of the situation.

"Bloody hell," Nym said as she came up beside Harry, Neville and Hermione joining them. "That was bloody amazing Harry!"

"Don't make me blush Nym," Harry said with a small smile as he stood up and proceeded to the next injured person to heal them.

"You never were any good taking praise," Hermione told her boyfriend. "Damn those Dursleys," she muttered.

"You two didn't handle yourselves so badly either," Nym complimented Neville and Hermione. "Those were some impressive moves."

"I don't think those Death Eaters had much training. Voldemort must be recruiting," Neville answered.

Nym grinned and teased Neville, "It looks like you are just as good at taking praise as Harry."

Nym liked Neville Longbottom. He wasn't classically handsome but he had an attractive quality to him. And if he was friends with Harry he must be good people.

"Get back," Harry shouted as he sent Neville, Nym, Hermione and the injured man he had been working on hurtling fifteen meters down the alley closer to where the Aurors had been working.

Harry's banishing spell had just managed to get the four magicians clear of the bulky form of the Quetzalcoatl that chose that moment to drop into the alley. The ground shuddered beneath the creature's weight as it impacted heavily. The creature was the size of several Hogwarts Express carriages put together. Hermione stared up in horror at the screeching serpent.

"Harry," Hermione shouted, fearing her boyfriend had been crushed beneath the monster's bulk.

"Shields, together," Amelia shouted as she and her Aurors erected a massive combined shield just as the serpent sent a stream of flame towards the clustered group.

The fire was so intense as it hit the shield that the light given off caused those standing near the shield to have to look away. Hermione could feel the heat as Neville pulled her to her feet. Tears ran freely down Hermione's eyes. The flame stopped and the snake lunged at the shielded group. The Aurors were well trained and transitioned their shield to a barrier to block physical attacks.

Hermione thought quickly and struggled to recover herself.

"Neville, let's transfigure a spiked wall out of crystal in front of their shield," Hermione urged her friend.

Neville nodded and raised his wand. His confidence in his magic had grown immensely since he had started training with Harry and Hermione. Hermione and Neville cast towards the ground and nothing happened for a moment. Then a wall of transparent crystal with spikes larger than a human in diameter and length sprouted from the ground. The snake's next lunge bloodied its nose and put out one of its eyes on the spikes. The Quetzalcoatl reared back and screeched in agony. It rose up as if to go over the wall but that was when Harry struck. Rising out of a depression in the ground while dropping his magical shield, Harry hit the Quetzalcoatl with a blast of pure force that sent the beast hurtling skyward. A broom appeared in Harry's hand and he raced after it. The Firebolt saw him hurtling upwards faster than the snake. When he had a sizeable lead on the screeching Quetzalcoatl, Harry pulled to a stop and turned to face the serpent.

Harry had to resist the urge to send his wand back into storage. He was so used to doing this type of battle magic without a wand. Those looking below could see a glowing form coalescing. It only took a few moments to recognize a sword of glowing energy. Harry was causing a region of atmosphere to increase in density. The vacuum caused by the air molecules compressing caused a bit of a wind to develop. Then Harry used his power to open up a conduit in spacetime, a wormhole. The other end of that wormhole opened up at the bottom of an ocean on Jupiter. The oceans on Jupiter were not water but they were liquid. That liquid was under immense pressure and rushed through the wormhole to fill the space between the pressurized air, the space shaped like a sword. Harry released the pressure keeping the liquid in its current form and the liquid immediately took on solid form. Harry's power held a gleaming sword of pure diamond. That diamond blade came down and sliced through the oncoming Quetzalcoatl with ease.

The force of the downwards slice caused the Quetzalcoatl to stop flying upwards. The two pieces of giant snake began to plummet towards the ground.

"That thing is coming back down here," Amelia shouted. "Get ready Aurors to catch it. We will use a combined levitation charm."

"Wait," Hermione interrupted. "Quetzalcoatl hide is highly resistant to direct magic and reacts badly when direct magic is attempted. Your levitation charms will probably destroy something we don't want destroyed."

"Right," Amelia said as she pointed her wand at the ground and caused a section of dirt to rise up before, with several more flicks of her foci, the earth turned into a fabric carpet. Several eyebrows rose because strictly speaking magic carpets were illegal in the UK. Broom manufacturers had lobbied for that mode of transportation to be banned. "We can wrap the snake in cloth and then levitate the cloth. Make sure you put unbreakable charms on the cloth. That beast is big."

The Aurors followed the lead of their boss and soon several large carpets glided up under the falling snake and wrapped around the carcass. When the beast was wrapped up like fresh butchered sausage its descent began to slow. Neville and Hermione had sent their own carpets.

"I don't think it will be enough," Hermione cried as she struggled to break the creature's momentum while it drew closer and closer to the ground.

Then Harry was standing next to Hermione. The magical strain on the Aurors and everyone else who had been on the ground eased as Harry added his magical strength to the mix. The carcass was at a crawl as it settled down in the alley.

"Thank you, Harry," Amelia said gratefully as shop owners, shoppers, and even a bunch of goblins came out to see the spectacle.

Harry nodded and smiled as if he was tired but didn't respond verbally. It would only be expected after everything he had just done. The flash of a camera went off and the group heard a very unpleasant voice.

"Harry, that was quite impressive," Rita Skeeter said, her quick quotes quill hovering behind her next to her photographer. "How did you, a soon to be fifth year Hogwarts student, manage to do all of that?"

Amelia stood nearby watching how Potter would respond. As much as she would like to step in good press was a hard thing to come by.

Flashing Rita a roguish grin Harry replied, "A bloke needs to keep some mystery about him. Otherwise a witch might get bored."

Harry's taking of Hermione's hand was a not so subtle indicator that they were together.

Rita's expression flashed with glee as she noticed the couple's new status.

"I knew I had you two pegged right during the Tournament," Rita said.

"I wouldn't say you had the nature of our relationship exactly right," Hermione replied coolly. "Nor have you been very accurate in your depictions of my Harry this summer. Madam Bones, did you have some questions for us regarding this incident?"

This effectively derailed Rita's questioning.

"Yes, I do have some questions," Amelia confirmed.

Amelia led Harry, Hermione, and Neville off to the side before erecting privacy wards.

"Amelia, I am a bit tired. Could we sit and talk, perhaps at Fortescue's?" Harry requested.

"Of course. I'm sorry. Of course you would be tired," Amelia said, mentally kicking herself and dispelling the privacy wards before leading the three Hogwarts students down the street towards the small outdoor restaurant that sat on the corner of two divergent side streets to Diagon Alley. Along the way she instructed, "Tonks, coordinate with the arriving Aurors. I want this street cleaned up and all the wounded taken care of promptly. I want three teams of two patrolling the alley as well."

"What should we do with that bloody big snake's body?" Nym asked.

Amelia opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Hermione.

"I'm sorry Madam Bones but _Section 72 Subsection D_ of _Ministerial code for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures_ states that the remains of any rogue magical creature are to be distributed equally among the magicians who terminated the life of that creature. In this case Harry is the only magician involved," Hermione pointed out.

Those present with the exception of Harry turned to Hermione with startled expressions on their features.

"How could you possibly know that?" Nym asked.

"Indeed, that code reference was so specific," Amelia added.

"My Hermione has an excellent memory," Harry replied fondly with a grin.

Hermione loved hearing her Harry refer to her as _his Hermione_. While this conversation was going on Neville had sent several text messages to his mother. Alice hurried up to the group at that moment.

"Are you all alright?" Alice demanded of Neville, Harry, and Hermione.

"I told you in the message we were," Neville pointed out.

"You can't blame me for worrying. Those bloody text messages aren't always very descriptive," Alice said.

Meanwhile Hermione whispered to Harry, _"That Quetzalcoatl_ _carcass is worth a bloody fortune. Look at the goblin's eying it. It could be sold to the goblins for a few million galleons and you could use that money to help those affected by today's attack. That would thoroughly undermine Riddle's efforts."_

"_I love the way you think, beautiful,"_ Harry replied before stealing a quick kiss.

"The carcass is Harry's," Amelia announced. "What do you want done with it?"

"Mum, it is worth a few million galleons," Harry said to Alice. The title of mum directed from Harry was a recent addition to their relationship but one the pair didn't mind. "Could you sell it to the goblins and then arrange for the money to be used to help the victims of today's attack?"

Alice beamed proudly at her godson and assured, "I will take care of it."

As Alice walked off towards Gringotts, Amelia and the three students took seats at Fortescue's and placed orders for food (Amelia's treat). Amelia drew the pensieve Harry had given her from the expanded pocket of her cloak and set it on the table.

"Would you perhaps share with me your memory of the fight, Harry?" Amelia requested.

"Sure," Harry agreed, having anticipated this would come up at some point. Harry had already restructured the memory he was giving Amelia to leave out some of his more powerful and less Ministry accepted spells. "There you go," he added as he dropped the memory into the pensieve.

"I will just pop in here really quick and view the memory," Amelia said.

She touched a glowing rune on the side of the pensieve and charged it with a bit of magic. She vanished into the silver bowl.

"Three point two million galleons," Alice stated a few minutes later as she dropped into a seat next to Neville. "The goblins were practically salivating over the potions ingredients that big snake would generate."

Amelia reappeared at that moment and said, "You should be given an Order of Merlin for that fighting."

"Not bloody likely under the current administration," Harry pointed out.

"The current administration might be changing very rapidly," Amelia replied.

"Shacklebolt and Nym are making progress in their investigation then?" Harry queried.

"They most certainly are," Amelia confirmed. "I don't want to jump the gun but we could be seeing Fudge arrested with an ironclad case against him shortly after you return to Hogwarts. I trust you will keep that confidential."

"Of course," Hermione assured. "Will you run for Minister?"

"I would rather not," Amelia admitted. "If nobody better runs then I would of course do it. But I really don't want that position."

"Fair enough," Harry mused. "I think by then Sirius' name will be cleared and he could probably get a serious sympathy vote for over a decade of wrongful imprisonment."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's serious Sirius joke. Amelia's eyebrows climbed into her hairline.

"Sirius Black as Minister of Magic," Alice said. "Merlin help us."

"I don't know, mum. I think Sirius might just make a good Minister," Neville said thoughtfully. "He has got a pureblood upbringing to better understand the pureblood factions. He also doesn't take it all too seriously," he continued earning a groan from both Hermione and Alice at another serious Sirius joke.

"Wait…Sirius Black is innocent?" Amelia demanded.

"Yes. We tried telling the Minister in our third year at Hogwarts but he wouldn't hear of it. The scandal was too much," Harry answered.

"Do you have proof you can provide me?" Amelia asked. "That bastard! That is why he issued the kiss on sight order," she suddenly realized.

Harry drew out several memories and placed them in vials.

"Peter Pettigrew is the true betrayer of Harry's parents," Hermione added as Amelia accepted the vials of memories. "He is still alive and with his master, Voldemort."

With a wry note to her voice Amelia said, "Just when I start thinking you couldn't shock me anymore you pull this out of your hat."

"You will get used to it," Alice assured.

Just then a cold chill came over the group.

"Not again," Harry said with a sigh as two Dementors shot out of a side alley and made straight for the Boy Who Lived.

Amelia, Neville, and Hermione stood rapidly and drew their wands. Before they could the dementors had reached Harry. Shadow swallowed Harry and the pair of dementors until they were no longer visible. The shadow only lasted a moment and then was gone as were the dementors.

"What just happened?" Hermione asked.

"A very persistent creature that I won't dignify with the title of witch has been trying to either kill me or provoke me into using magic against the underage laws all summer," Harry said as he sat down with a sigh.

His form flickered for a moment and then he appeared much rested. He had stepped out of time into his Hallow dimension for a rejuvenating nap. Amelia's mind raced. In order to send dementors after someone the woman Harry was referring to would either have to be an incredibly powerful black magic user or very highly placed within the Ministry. There was only one woman, if she could be called that, who was that highly placed.

"You are talking about Delores Umbridge, aren't you?" Amelia questioned. "And why _haven't_ you received a notice for violating the restrictions on underage sorcery? You haven't done anything wrong because that was self defense but you should have gotten the notice."

Amelia had also noticed the lack of reaction of Alice at the dementors' appearance.

"Amelia, I have no idea why your Ministry's equipment can't detect me using magic," Harry said with a completely straight face. The message was clear for Amelia. Don't push it. "As for Umbridge being the one to send the dementors I can confirm that."

"How do you know she is the one?" Amelia probed.

"The dementors told me so before I killed them," Harry replied.

"How do you kill dementors?" Amelia questioned.

"I turn them into something just as dangerous but completely controllable," Harry admitted. "I won't let the knowledge of how to do this get outside of my control since I invented it. The consequences to our world could be disastrous."

Amelia tried to not let the frustration she felt show on her face but it was impossible. Dementors had been one of the monsters that had plagued the magical world for thousands of years. The Ministry only had a limited amount of control over the minor demons and that was tenuous at best.

Alice for her part realized just how much her godson trusted her if he was willing to let her read about demonology. She had not realized it had been him who had created the enchantments she had read about in the book he had given her. One of these days she told herself she wouldn't be shocked by her godson when he revealed some new secret or aspect of himself he kept hidden. That day was not today.

"Was there anything else you needed of us today, Amelia? I believe these three should get back on with enjoying their day, if that is possible," Alice said.

"Oh it's possible," Harry said with a tired smile.

Harry was no longer physically exhausted by he was still a little mentally tired.

"That will be all for now. If I have more questions I can email you. Thank you for what you did," Amelia said as she stood.

"We are happy we could help," Hermione assured before the older witch departed. "Well I could use a nap."

"Not surprising," Harry replied. "You and Neville have been getting some good magical workouts through the training I have been providing but that training can't really prepare you for the emotions of a real battle. But I think I can take care of the exhaustion."

Harry drew a potion bottle out of his pocket and after conjuring two small glasses filled the cups with the brew.

Neville and Hermione examined the sparkling silvery potion and it was Neville who asked, "What is it?"

"It's pepper-up without the negative side effect of later crashing," Harry explained. "Drink it."

The pair drank the potions and immediately felt their energy flooding back into them. A warmth spread throughout their limbs and they couldn't ever remember feeling that strong.

"I feel like I just got the best night of sleep ever," Hermione said. _"And just had a really good orgasm,"_ she mentally added to herself. "How is it this potion won't cause us to crash later like pepper-up?"

"You finished it," Alice said in sudden realization, earning her a nod and a smile from Harry. At the questioning look of the others Alice explained, "That was a potion Lily was working on. I think she would have completed it if it wasn't for her death. It would have grown the Potter fortune quite a bit. Lily was brilliant at potions."

"The power boost gained is higher if the witch or wizard brews the potion themselves but it is still quite effective on others. It leaves the brewer feeling drained because they are storing more magic in the potion than usual. I brew this as part of my workout daily," Harry explained. "I don't plan on selling it until I have done a rigorous testing regimen but it could definitely earn some serious money."

"Will you teach us how to make it?" Hermione asked.

"If you sign a magical contract preventing you from sharing the recipe or using it without my permission for anything other than personal use," Harry answered.

"I will," Neville agreed.

"Me too," Hermione added.

"We can do all that later. For now let's take a little trip," Harry suggested.

"Where will this trip be to?" Alice queried.

"We're going to Disney World," Harry said with a grin.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"You didn't take any of your pepper-up variant after the fight," Hermione said after she finished chewing a bite of her corn-dog.

Harry and Hermione were standing hand in hand outside of a food stand in the American theme park that was Disney World waiting for Alice and Neville to get out of line of the food stand they were waiting to get food at.

"No, I didn't," Harry replied.

"How are you not exhausted right now then?" Hermione asked.

"I think you already know the answer to that. You are brilliant after all," Harry pointed out. "Stop fishing and tell me what you suspect."

"That flickering I saw you do after you took out those Dementors…it was indicative of a time traveler catching up with the timeline after their past self recently jumped into the past. Do you have a time turner, Harry?" Hermione questioned.

"I do so love you, Hermione. You are so brilliant. You are beautiful. And you are just incredibly loveable," Harry declared with such passion in his voice it made Hermione's heart beat much faster.

Hermione had the look of a deer startled and caught in the headlights. Then the sincerity in her boyfriend's tone registered. She could feel the love through his voice.

"You have never said that to me before," Hermione pointed out in a quiet voice.

"I am perfectly aware of that," Harry assured. "I just felt I couldn't hold my feelings in any longer." Hermione was silent and appeared somewhat anxious. "Tell me what is bothering you."

"I am worried that we are moving things too fast and will destroy our friendship if things go badly. This summer with you has been amazing. I am also worried that if I tell you I love you back it will just confirm we are moving too fast," Hermione admitted. "Does that make any sense?"

Hermione was looking down as she said this. She was facing towards Harry. He brought his right hand up and cupped her chin, drawing her eyes up to meet his.

"I can follow your logic. The way I see it we have been friends for years now. We know quite a bit about each other. There is only one logical way our relationship can progress further as far as I can see. That is romantically. We will have rough patches where I'm sure we will fight. But I am not Ron. I won't intentionally pick fights with you. You and I have always gotten on amazingly well. As far as I'm concerned we should have gotten together years ago. If I hadn't been so stupid I am sure we would have. As long as you don't go completely psycho Bellatrix Lestrange on me I can tell you I will love you forever," Harry said.

"You can't promise that," Hermione replied.

"I can," Harry argued. "I assure you." He thought, _"After all 260 years is a pretty good start."_

Hermione leaned forward and pressed her lips to Harry's in a kiss that was as much to reassure herself that he was real as to convey her love for him.

"I love you too, Harry," Hermione whispered when the kiss broke apart.

Hermione gathered her thoughts after the exchange of admittance of mutual love and the passionate kiss she had shared with her boyfriend had scrambled her thoughts. The brightest witch of her age immediately focused in on the fact that Harry had not answered her question.

Knowing Hermione all too well Harry preempted her next question, saying, "I never answered your question about the time turner." His features took on an expression of distress. "Frankly I don't really want to answer that question and we don't exactly have the time for the necessary explanation. Alice and Neville will be out of line before I have explained things to your satisfaction."

"Why don't you want to tell me, Harry?" Hermione asked. In an even quieter voice she asked, "Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you with my life, with my heart," Harry replied. "What I'm worried about is that you will hate me or be repulsed by me when you learn the truth. I suspected you would figure something was up maybe early to mid school year. I am too different than the Harry of last year. I didn't think you would figure things out this soon."

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand tighter and while trying to convey her earnestness stated, "Harry, I don't know why you think I would be repulsed by you. You are simply gorgeous and have been my best friend for years. Just tell me. I will try my best to keep an open mind."

"Well we don't have the time conventionally so I will just have to remedy that," Harry said.

The Master of Death raised his free hand which took on a blue glow and brought it down in a vertical movement. A glowing dark tear opened up in space in front of Hermione's eyes and then everything around the couple just froze.

"You just did some temporal magic didn't you?" Hermione asked. "Did you freeze time?"

"No, I just took us out of the normal flow of time," Harry assured.

"Of course," Hermione said with her tone deceptively calm. "That would be much easier than freezing time. You would just have to accelerate our atoms to the speed of light. Did we just get converted into energy?"

"In this dimension all physical matter exists as energy," Harry explained as Hermione poked a finger at his chest. "Think of us as light-based matter."

"Fascinating," Hermione murmured. "So how old are you really?"

Harry took it as a good sign that his girlfriend didn't try to pull away from him. He knew she had figured out that he was a time traveler.

"I was 260 when I came back this summer," Harry answered.

Hermione lost all semblance of calm at that announcement. She turned to stare at Harry in shock. He pulled his hand away and conjured two comfortable chairs facing each other, wandlessly, Hermione noted as she sat down. Harry sat silently and waited for Hermione to speak. It took several minutes as her gaze swept repeatedly over him.

Finally Hermione said, "I guess my first question is why did you come back? I have many other questions mind you."

"Yes, I am sure you do," Harry said fondly. "I came back because in my seventh year right after Ron found out we had started to date he killed you in a fit of jealous rage." Hermione's features paled drastically at this information. "You were my best friend, my first love. I went on living and had many lovers. The question always remained what could have been. When time travel became available to me why wouldn't I come back. I have made a lot of plans and plots over the years concerning aspects of my past I would like to change. The biggest is that I wanted to save you. The one thing I couldn't plan for was how you would react when you found out how old I am."

"Ron killed me?" Hermione asked unable to quickly reconcile that one of her friends could do something like that to her.

"Yes. I have come to realize that Ron Weasley became overwhelmed by jealousy. Ron wants what everybody else has but doesn't want to put forth any effort for it. I don't want to talk anymore about him right now. I will admit it has been a struggle to resist killing Ron since I have been back so that there is no chance he can ever hurt you again," Harry said.

Hermione looked up and focused on her boyfriend at this admission.

"You definitely aren't the Harry I knew last year. He wouldn't kill," Hermione pointed out.

"No, he would," Harry corrected. "It would just take something horrendous happening for him to do so, like your death. I realize this is a lot for you to take in. This trip really wasn't the best place for you to learn about this. You need time to think. I'm going to return us to the time stream now. I will then take you home so that you can think. If you decide you don't want to be with me anymore I will understand even if I will be greatly saddened by it. If you need someone to talk to about this might I suggest your mom. She has a very level head on her shoulders."

Hermione caught something in her boyfriend's tone when he talked about her mum, a certain fondness, that wouldn't be warranted by their current level of interactions.

"Did you know my mom better in the future?" Hermione asked.

"We can discuss that later. Your parents were in a bad place after your death, Hermione. Hell, so was I," Harry admitted. "Keep in mind that I have centuries of stories now, Hermione. We could literally spend that much time talking about my past."

Hermione nodded and watched as time resumed moving around her. Harry took her hand and suddenly she was in her bedroom.

"Let me know when you have absorbed what I have told you. If you have questions just instant message or text me," Harry suggested.

Harry didn't want to say he thought it would be too painful to be around Hermione physically until she had made her decision to be with him still. He was feeling awfully vulnerable. Hermione nodded her agreement and Harry was gone.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 9/28/2014


	5. Chapter 5

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 5

"So what do you think I should do?" Hermione asked her mother after having just finished telling Emma about her boyfriend being a time traveler and her apparent death at the hands of her other best friend.

Emma was sitting on the bed almost as shocked as her daughter.

"I think I am more concerned about the fact that Ron Weasley killed you only a few years from now," Emma stated. "The fact that your boyfriend is a 260 year old man with the form of a teenager can't really beat you dying, honey."

"You make a good point," Hermione said.

"Dear god…if Harry did kill Weasley I don't think I could be upset about it at this point. I always felt there was something a little off about him when we met Weasley and his family at that bookstore in Diagon Alley. From the way you describe him he isn't very nice to you," Emma mused.

"Mum, there is something I never told you and daddy," Hermione admitted in a quiet voice. "In first year I told you about that troll that got into the castle. I told you the teachers dealt with it. That isn't true. Ron was absolutely horrid to me in our charms class. He called me a know-it-all and said some really nasty things about me to Harry when he didn't know I was behind them. I ran to a loo crying and stayed there throughout dinner. When the troll got into the castle it came into that loo. It would have killed me but Harry had come to find me. Ron only came along because of Harry. Between the two of them they killed the troll."

"So what you are saying is that you would have died because of this Ron Weasley if it hadn't been for Harry," Emma summarized.

"Yes," Hermione admitted.

"I see why you didn't tell us. What I don't see is why you are still friends with this Weasley boy," Emma said.

"He and Harry were a package deal. If I wanted to be Harry's friend then I had to be Ron's friend," Hermione explained.

"It doesn't sound like that is the case any longer," Emma pointed out.

"No, it doesn't," Hermione agreed.

"Right, Weasley is now Granger Enemy Number One. On to the issue of your quite experienced boyfriend," Emma said.

"That explains why he is bloody brilliant at shagging," Hermione mused.

Hermione and Emma were fairly open with each other about sex so Emma knew a lot about her daughter's sex life.

"Yes it does. And you should be thankful you don't have to stumble through all the awkwardness of an inexperienced male. Once you get past a certain age then the age difference between the two partners in a couple really doesn't matter much. There are times when you won't get what the person of a different age is talking about because you grew up in different times but I don't see that being a problem here. You and Harry were born around the same time. Time travel might make things a bit confusing but I think you can get past that. Are you overlooking the fact that your boyfriend has all the magical knowledge and experience his age implies?" Emma queried.

Hermione's eyes glazed over slightly and a grin emerged on her lips at the thought of all that knowledge and skill.

"No, I thought about that shortly after he told me. It made me _so_ hot for him," Hermione admitted. "It still does."

"Harry is crazy about you and your father and I really like him. I recommend giving him a chance. See where things go. He makes you really happy," Emma suggested.

"I guess I was just a bit shocked. I definitely don't think I want to be without Harry," Hermione admitted.

Just then a Hogwarts school owl flew in through Hermione's open bedroom window. It landed next to Hermione and she removed the thick envelope attached to the owl's leg while Emma brought the owl a bit of food and water.

"Your school supply list?" Emma inquired as Hermione opened the envelope.

"Yes and a prefect badge," Hermione added as she drew out the badge.

Hermione couldn't be really excited about the badge because she was already too excited about her boyfriend's recently revealed knowledge. She pulled out her mobile and sent a text to her boyfriend asking him to come over. Moments after she had sent the text Harry appeared silently on her bed next to Hermione.

Emma jumped in surprise and admonished, "A little warning next time please."

"Sorry, Emma," Harry said sheepishly.

"Did you get one?" Hermione asked excitedly as she held up her prefect badge.

By Hermione's tone and her body language Harry knew she still wanted to be with him. Internally he let out a sigh of relief.

"I am afraid not," Harry answered. "Dumbledore gave it to Ron because a prefect badge going to me would only make Ron more jealous. I'm sure there were other reasons too. I think maybe the old man was trying to push you and Ron together and saw you two performing prefect duties together as an opportunity for you to grow closer. Unfortunately Ron was possibly the worst prefect I have ever observed. He was incredibly lazy barely passing his classes and that was with you helping him. He devoted no time to his duties which you had to pick up the slack for."

"I refuse to pick up the slack for him," Hermione said in outrage. "Why would McGonagall let him do this?"

"McGonagall has let Dumbledore do a lot. Evil triumphs when good people do nothing," Harry replied. "Dumbledore may not be evil but some of his actions certainly aren't good."

"Can you take me to Professor McGonagall right now? I want to have a chat with her about this," Hermione requested.

Harry nodded, took Hermione's hand, and then vanished with her. Moments later the couple was in the corridor outside of McGonagall's office.

"Here we are," Harry said.

Hermione didn't even bother commenting on how her boyfriend had just bypassed the Hogwarts wards. She would ask later when she wasn't in front of somebody else. McGonagall looked up at the sound of Harry's voice. Her office door was open since it was the summer.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, why are you here? School doesn't start until tomorrow," Minerva McGonagall said.

Hermione stepped into the office and said, "I came to return my prefects badge."

"Why would you do that?" Minerva asked in confusion.

"Because you have essentially forced the position of both prefects on me by making Ron Weasley the other prefect," Hermione pointed out. "He is the laziest wizard I have ever encountered."

"This is your friend we are talking about," Minerva pointed out.

"Do friends treat friends the way Ron was treating me last year during the Tournament? Do friends not respond to mail the entire summer? Ron Weasley is something but I'm not sure it could be considered a friend," Harry said.

"I lied to you in my first year, Professor. I didn't seek out the troll. Ron said some horrid things about me when I was walking behind him and I spent the Halloween feast in that girl's loo crying. If Harry hadn't come after me I would be dead. Ron wouldn't have even been there if Harry hadn't dragged him along," Hermione admitted.

"I see," Minerva replied. "Truth be told you were my choice for male prefect, Mr. Potter. Albus overruled me."

"He doesn't have the authority to do that, Professor," Harry pointed out. "You once stood by while he made a decision you were against and it ended up with me living with the most horrible of muggles. Are you going to stand by and let him make another decision you don't agree with?"

Minerva looked at Harry sadly and said, "I didn't know you were aware of that. For what it's worth I am sorry I didn't do more to dissuade him."

"The past is the past. As long as we learn from those mistakes that is all we can ask for. The Headmaster isn't infallible," Harry pointed out.

"You are right of course. It is my decision as your Head of House. You are the new male prefect, Mr. Potter. Dumbledore will have to remove me from Head of Gryffindor if he wants to change that," Minerva announced as she drew her wand and twirled it in a particular pattern.

A prefect badge identical to Hermione's appeared next to her badge. The badge had just been recalled from Ron Weasley. Harry and Hermione took their badges from the desk.

"Thank you, Professor. I really didn't want to give up the position but I also really didn't want to take over the duties all by myself," Hermione said.

"I understand. Truth be told, my second choice was Neville. I would have chosen Dean and Seamus before Ron. Without your help this year I don't think he will earn many OWLs," Minerva admitted.

"It's too bad you don't care for Divination, Professor. I think you just made a pretty accurate prediction," Harry suggested with a wry smile.

Minerva favored Harry Potter with a matching wry smile.

"We will see you tomorrow, Professor," Hermione said.

Minerva inclined her head as she watched Harry Potter and Hermione Granger leave her office holding hands. A lot had changed over the summer and hopefully for the better. The events unfolding in the Daily Prophet were certainly intriguing if they were to be believed. Before the meeting Minerva had just had with two of her favorite students she wouldn't have quite believed they were capable of taking out so many Death Eaters and Quetzalcoatl. But the two young people who had just left Minerva's office had been possessed of a level of confidence and restrained power that Minerva associated with a younger Albus Dumbledore. Thinking of the Headmaster had Minerva standing and leaving her office to go hold a conversation with him about the change in Gryffindor prefects. She would not let him influence her decision again. It was her right to choose prefects and the only reason he had gotten involved was because it was Harry Potter's year group.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Tom Riddle read the Daily Prophet report of the attack on Diagon Alley and struggled to control his rage. It was he admitted one of the nastier side effects of all the dark magic he had performed and the necessity of having created multiple Horcruxes that he struggled to control his emotions. When creating a Horcrux it wasn't just a piece of soul split off but also a small aspect of a person's personality split off. Each Horcrux Tom created had taken with it a large portion of a particular emotion that had survived before the Horcrux had been created. The effect was negligible if only one Horcrux was created but was certainly not so when as many Horcruxes as Tom had created were brought into existence. The result was that Tom was left with primarily rage filling him. That rage had been left to saturate and boil within his remaining soul as he spent over a decade without a body.

It was quite unfortunate Tom mused that the intricacies of Horcruxes were not better documented but by their nature Horcruxes were strongest when kept secret. Dark wizards and witches throughout the ages didn't want their enemies learning about these immortalizing constructs. Knowledge was power after all and right then as he analyzed the paper in detail after suppressing his initial anger Tom felt a distinct lack of power. He had let the anger inside get the better of him and had sent an attack at Potter only for him to lose his entire attacking force. Luckily those Death Eaters had been newer recruits obtained from mercenaries on the continent. Somehow Potter had become really good at magical combat in a very short amount of time for Potter certainly hadn't proved to be this strong at Tom's rebirth ceremony at the end of the previous school year.

That Greater Quetzalcoatl had been expensive to obtain from South America and Potter had taken it apart fairly easily, something Tom would have struggled with. The mercenaries hadn't been cheap either though once they had accepted his mark Tom hadn't had to pay them any further. It was no matter. The pockets of the pureblood Death Eaters Tom had at his disposal were quite deep and if that money ran out Tom wasn't above depriving some muggle banks of their funds. Tom honestly wondered why families like the Weasleys could be so stupid sometimes. Wizards in need of money could rob the muggles blind and then memory charm the filthy vermin. Tom had taken that route himself when he was younger and short on funds. Of course he had taken the money in smaller amounts from multiple muggles and modified their memories to think they had donated the money to charity. It took longer but was much harder to trace.

Sometimes Tom really longed for those simpler days when it was just him. He could do what he pleased back then without being expected to be grand and powerful. People were less cautious of him like they were now. Sometimes before his downfall in 1981 Tom would go out among the population under powerful glamour charms. This practice allowed him to gauge public opinion. He would consider taking up this practice once more. He would definitely force himself to think about his response to Potter and not let his rage get the better of him.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

**Smut Scene Censored (See hpfanficarchive profile of the same name for smut version)**

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione lay in Harry's arms idly twirling her fingers through his developing chest hairs.

"What was the future like before you came back? There must have been so many wondrous technologies," Hermione said.

"There were," Harry confirmed. "But there were also wars and so many people. Our population bred to a point where if it wasn't for our technology the Earth could no longer sustain us. If we hadn't gone out into the stars I am not sure we would have survived even with our technological advances."

"Did you…," Hermione began before pausing. "You mentioned other women. Why would you come back if you had them?"

"Some of those relationships ended because I wasn't completely compatible with those women. Some of them ended because my partners died either of natural causes or other causes. One of my lovers, Kara, I was happy with. But I never allowed myself to fully commit to her and she knew that. By the time I met her I was focused on getting back to you. But I'm not a monk. I have my needs as you well are finding out. Kara was beautiful and intelligent and her people had time travel capabilities. They couldn't go back in time far enough for what I needed but she helped me understand a lot about temporal mechanics," Harry admitted.

"She was an alien?" Hermione questioned. "What did she look like?"

"Yes, Kara was Kryptonian," Harry admitted.

"So there really were Kryptonians in your time?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, many of the fictional works we read about are actually instigated by alien species that are running simulations to see how Earthlings will respond to their species and culture," Harry explained.

"You are Super-Man!" Hermione said in sudden realization as she leaned up on one elbow and stared at her boyfriend in amazement.

"I was wondering when you would figure that out," Harry said.

"You could take Voldemort apart with ease if you have those kinds of powers," Hermione pointed out as she settled back down against his shoulder.

"I could," Harry admitted.

"Why don't you?" Hermione asked.

"Because the world will never grow without strife," Harry explained. "I had two goals when I came back. My primary goal was to save you and be with you. Secondly I wanted to prepare the world for the future, for aliens appearing on Earth. I can't save everyone but I can save a lot. Make no mistake that I will be the one to end Riddle. But in the meantime he is teaching the world a valuable lesson."

"I understand," Hermione said. "I may not like the necessity of it but I understand. Did you ever have any children?"

"I had a son and a daughter with Kara. I didn't leave them alone. Before I left I cloned myself and gave my clone all my memories," Harry explained. "My clone is with Kara and my children."

"Wow…you can clone people. That is amazing," Hermione said with surprise evident in her demeanor.

"Cloning wasn't amazing when it first came out. But it has gradually improved. There were wars fought over cloning because cloned organs were extending life spans. That isn't even mentioning the religious zealots," Harry explained.

Harry and Hermione fell asleep in each other's arms talking about what wonders the future held. They both slept soundly.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry, Hermione, and Neville reached the train platform the next morning well before it started to get crowded. Alice was there to see them off. Hermione's parents had already said their goodbyes. Alice had assured Dan and Emma that she would see them off and if they could avoid losing a day of work it was all the better. The trio said their goodbyes and boarded the train.

As they headed towards the back of the train Hermione commented, "This is so much nicer than the usual Weasley rush."

"I bet it is," Neville replied. "I see that lot rushing onto the train every year at the last minute. It doesn't look like much fun."

"You have observed how unmotivated Ron is. Imagine a whole family like that," Harry suggested.

Neville shuddered. Harry stopped at a compartment which held a single occupant. He opened the door.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" Hermione asked the strange looking girl with dirty blonde hair, a necklace of butterbeer caps, and an upside down newspaper

Hermione had been picked on too often in her childhood to judge a book by its cover.

"Not at all," Luna Lovegood replied as she ran her gaze over the new arrivals.

"I'm Harry Potter. This is Neville Longbottom and my girlfriend Hermione Granger," Harry introduced.

"I am Luna Lovegood," Luna answered.

"We have got a little bit of time before we have to get to the Prefect's Carriage for orientation," Hermione informed her boyfriend.

The three new arrivals sat down. Neville sat next to Luna. Crookshanks hopped up onto Hermione's lap. Hedwig would fly to Hogwarts. Trevor was in Neville's pocket. The rest of their belongings were shrunken and stored in expanded pockets.

"Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself, Luna?" Harry requested.

Luna stared at Harry with a slightly tilted head, curious. She had never been asked that question before.

"My father owns this newspaper The Quibbler," Luna began as she held up the paper she had been reading upside down when the trio had entered. "My favorite creature is the crumple horned snorkack followed closely by nargles."

Sensing that his god-brother wanted to befriend the unusual blonde witch and finding Luna quite attractive himself despite her odd method of dress, Neville said, "I have never heard of those creatures. Do you have any pictures or drawings of them?"

Luna gladly showed the friendly magicians who were sharing her compartment her drawings. They didn't once make fun of her belief in the creatures. Harry and Hermione excused themselves to attend the prefect meeting shortly before the train was scheduled to leave.

"I take it Luna is someone you knew in the future?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry answered. "She is a good friend despite her oddities. You want her fighting at your back when things get messy."

"Good to know," Hermione said.

The couple left the meeting a half hour into the train's journey and returned to their compartment to find Ron and Ginny sitting with Luna and Neville. When the compartment door opened and the two Weasleys spotted Harry holding Hermione's hand along with the prefect badge on Harry's robes Ron's face began to noticeably redden.

Ginny also did not look pleased in the least.

"Hello _mate_," Ron practically snarled at Harry in greeting.

"Ron, Ginny," Harry replied as he sat down so that he was seated between Hermione and Ginny.

Neville, Luna, and Ron were sitting on the opposite bench.

"Did you have a good holiday?" Hermione asked.

Ron ignored the question and instead demanded, "How could you, Harry? You knew I…I told you." Ron couldn't seem to get the words out but Harry knew Ron meant to mention how much Ron liked Hermione. "And the prefect badge…it was mine!"

"As far as I am concerned Ron your attempts to claim Hermione were juvenile. Who she chooses to date is her business. The prefect's position was initially wrongfully influenced by Dumbledore. McGonagall changed her mind later on as is her prerogative. I suggest you take it up with her if you have a problem with that."

Ron's face grew even redder.

"Ronald," Ginny said with a hiss. "Come talk with me outside the compartment," Ginny ordered as she stood.

Ron looked as if he was going to deny Ginny but in a move eerily reminiscent of her mother the short redhead grasped Ron's left ear between her fingers and pulled him from the compartment. Harry surreptitiously cast a listening charm before the redheads left. He made sure the others present could hear the conversation. Ginny put up a silencing spell in the corridor but it didn't matter. Harry was a much better magic user than Ginny would ever be.

"What do you want, Gin?" Ron demanded as soon as the silencing charm went up.

"You were about to make an ass of yourself yet again, Ron," Ginny pointed out.

"I don't care. I told Potter years ago that Hermione was mine," Ron declared. "Mum said Hermione would make a good wife for me someday. I don't want her being sullied by other wizards before I have gotten to her. She should be waiting for me while I explore other possibilities."

"If you keep acting like a bloody git we won't be able to get close enough to dose Harry and Hermione with the love potions mum and I brewed this summer," Ginny pointed out. "You only have to act civil for maybe a week before the potions kick in. Harry and Hermione should fall head over heels for us by then."

"I suppose I can do that," Ron admitted.

Harry shut down the listening charm from his companions in the compartment being able to hear it though the conversation was still being recorded in Harry's lab within his temporal pocket dimension.

"Bloody hell!" Neville said. "I knew Ron was a prat but this is just beyond the pale."

"I don't want to see those arse-holes again," Hermione declared.

"Done," Harry agreed while slashing his wand down towards the compartment door. Another flick of his wand saw the Weasleys' luggage being expelled into the corridor. "Now they won't be able to find the compartment."

This was proven a moment later as a confused Ron and Ginny tried finding the compartment. All they could see were the neighboring compartments.

"Did you just put a Fidelius Charm on this compartment?" Luna asked curiously.

"I just placed a variant of the Fidelius charm on the compartment," Harry answered. "It's called the Fidarius charm. It's in the same family of concealment enchantments as the Fidelius. The Fidarius charm conceals a location, person, or object from a targeted individual or group whereas the Fidelius conceals a location, person, or object from everyone. The Fidarius doesn't require a secret keeper but still requires the same amount of power as the Fidelius to cast."

"Fascinating," Luna said, the Ravenclaw in her showing through in her tone. "I have never heard of the Fidarius. Could you perhaps direct me to literature that will elaborate on it?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to find the book which I learned from that talks about the Fidarius. The book is exceedingly rare. Stick around as a friend and I might eventually trust you with a copy," Harry suggested.

"I look forward to it," Luna agreed just as the door to the compartment opened.

A teenaged version of Nymphadora Tonks entered the compartment and plopped down on the vacant side of Neville.

"Wotcher Harry, Hermione, Neville," Nym greeted.

"Hello Nym," Neville greeted which was mimicked by Harry and Hermione. "What brings you to the Express?"

Neville was genuinely pleased to see Nym. She seemed interested in him and he was interested in her despite the considerable age difference. He had also noted Luna's attractiveness but hadn't yet got a sense of her feelings towards him if she had any at all.

"Madam Bones wanted an Auror on the train just in case the shite hits the fan," Nym explained.

"And since you can blend in really well she wanted you," Hermione surmised.

"Right in one, Hermione," Nym confirmed. "Why did I just see the two youngest Weasleys looking confused and frustrated near this compartment?"

"We caught them discussing using love potions on Hermione and I. We will no longer be associating with them," Harry explained. "They are unable to find this compartment any longer."

Her expression darkening Nym said, "I see. If they actually do it I can arrest them."

"Thank you for offering but we can handle the Weasleys," Hermione assured.

Conversation flowed more freely after that. Nym didn't actually have to do patrols. She just had to stay on the train. The prefects would handle the small stuff. The rain came down off and on throughout the trip. It was dark by the time the Express finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station. Harry and Hermione along with the other prefects supervised the students disembarking from the train.

"Harry, Hermione, what happened? We couldn't find the compartment," Ron said confusedly as he approached the couple, Ginny trailing behind.

Harry was torn. He really didn't want to have it out on the platform and cause a scene but that was what it would take to shut up any cry the Weasels might make about foul play on the part of Harry and Hermione.

"We know about the plans you and Ginny had for using potions, Weasley," Harry replied.

Ron's eyes widened as did Ginny's. Ron's mouth gaped slightly.

"I don't know what you are talking about, mate," Ron tried.

"When you lie the tips of your ears redden," Harry pointed out. "I would like to say our friendship was good while it lasted but last year suggests otherwise. If you will excuse us we have duties to attend to."

Harry turned his back to Ron knowing that Ron's pride could never stand for the insult.

"Don't turn your back on me, Potter," Ron shouted as he drew his wand. Leveling his wand at the back of Harry's head Ron shouted, "I won't let you have Hermione too."

The spell Ron had whispered out shot towards the back of Harry's head. Hermione spun bringing her wand to bare and felt her stomach drop at the sight of the bone breaker heading for her lover's skull. Harry spun so fast that her eyes couldn't follow it. His hand shot up and actually caught Ron's spell before Harry tossed it back at Ron's pelvis. The spell returned faster than it had been first projected at and shattered Ron's pelvis. He dropped to the ground screaming and clutching his groin even as Ginny drew her wand on the couple.

"Try it and you will be a greasy smear on the side of the Express," Hermione warned.

"Yes, do try it and give me the excuse to haul your ass into lock-up," Nym suggested as she flashed her Auror's badge.

Harry watched as Professor Grubbly-Plank, Hagrid's temporary replacement, sent a messenger spell off to Dumbledore. Ginny lowered her wand and within moments Nym had secured Ron's wand. Nym placed a call on her cell phone into her office and minutes later Amelia Bones arrived at the same time that Albus Dumbledore portkeyed onto the platform.

"What is going on here?" Dumbledore demanded.

"You mentioned an attempted murder, Tonks," Amelia prompted her Auror.

"Ron Weasley and Harry Potter got into a verbal argument which Potter attempted to end by leaving. Ron Weasley drew his wand and then attempted to murder Potter," Nym began.

She was interrupted by Dumbledore interjecting, "Surely you exaggerate the circumstances."

"Weasley sent a bone breaker at the back of Potter's skull," Nym pointed out. Dumbledore looked a bit green at this news while glancing at Ron who was currently receiving field medical treatment and had two Auror wands trained on him while this went on. "Anyway, Potter deflected the bone breaker back at Weasley and that was when I intervened. The Weasley girl attempted to draw her wand before I intervened but backed down when Granger proved to have an aimed wand. You should know that I have heard allegations that the two youngest Weasleys were plotting to use love potions on Potter and Granger."

Amelia's expression darkened even more at this news. Love potions had been used in the past for social climbers and gold diggers to get at the monies of old pureblood families. That was why the majority of the monies controlled by those families couldn't be accessed by a married spouse. But more money could be accessed through an heir. The punishments against such attempts on an old family line like the Potters were severe.

"I see," Amelia said. "This will have to be thoroughly investigated. Take both the Weasleys into custody."

"You can't do that," Ron protested.

"I assure you we can, boy," Amelia asserted. "We will contact your parents shortly. Go quietly and you might make it a little easier on yourself."

"Do as she says, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore directed severely.

"Harry, Hermione, might I have a word with you?" Amelia requested.

By this point the students had been cleared off the platform by the other faculty members who weren't directly involved in affairs.

"Of course," Harry agreed as he and Hermione stepped to the side.

Amelia erected privacy barriers and said, "You two certainly don't want for a lack of excitement."

"May we live in interesting times," Hermione commented.

"Do you realize the implications of what just happened here tonight and the allegations Auror Tonks has brought to my attention?" Amelia queried.

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"I'm not sure I do," Hermione admitted.

"This isn't the first time a family as wealthy as Harry's has been targeted with love potions. The punishments for such offenses have made such tactics fall out of favor. Arthur will be left with no choice but to disown all who are involved or he could lose what little he has," Amelia admitted. "I'm not telling you this to discourage you from telling the truth. In fact I think you should pursue this to make an example. My Susan stands to inherit quite a bit. It's just my job to inform you what is going on."

"We understand," Harry assured.

"We just need to take your statement and preferably some pensieve memories and then we can get you up to the feast," Amelia suggested.

Harry and Hermione gave Amelia copies of their memories before saying goodbye to Nym and Amelia. Dumbledore left for the Ministry to no doubt interfere in the legal process on behalf of Ron and Ginny.

"I can't believe it escalated that far," Hermione admitted as she and Harry rode their carriage to the castle.

"I can. After what I told you Ron did to you…you know…well I think he is capable of any evil," Harry admitted.

Hermione hugged Harry tighter at this statement. When they reached the Great Hall the sorting had already taken place and the feast was well underway. Harry and Hermione took a seat among the other fifth years.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 10/12/2014


	6. Chapter 6

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

**Chapter 6**

Fred and George immediately focused on the new arrivals.

"Harry, mate," Fred began.

"Mind telling us," George continued.

"Why our siblings," Fred continued.

"Were just carted away by the Aurors?" George probed.

"They were plotting to use love potions on us," Hermione answered.

The trace of humor that was always present in the twins' expression vanished at this revelation. Fred and George certainly couldn't be blamed for this loss of humor given the news they had just received.

"Bloody hell," George whispered.

The repercussions upon a magical family when any member was charged with attempted line theft were severe.

"Fred, George, can I speak to you two quietly in the hallway for a few minutes," Harry requested. When the twins had nodded agreement Harry whispered into Hermione's ear, "I won't be long."

Harry stood and along with the twins walked from the hall. Harry cast magic which was subtle but kept the eyes of the majority of the student and staff population of Hogwarts from following the trio.

"What did you want to speak about?" Fred queried as he and his brother stood facing Harry in an alcove off the entrance hall.

"Look, I don't intend to pursue this thing with your siblings but I no longer have a choice in what happens to them. The Ministry has become involved. The old line families will pursue this. They will try to sanction your family for every penny. Your brother Bill as a goblin employee is exempt from persecution. The old families can't touch him. If you can get him to magically adopt you and your brothers you are fine. What were your plans regarding your joke shop?" Harry inquired.

Fred and George appeared slightly thrown at the seeming change of topic.

"We have been looking for a shop this summer. We've already started taking mail orders," George answered. "What about our parents?"

"Do you honestly think Ron and Ginny could come up with this all by themselves?" Harry asked.

Fred admitted, "No. It was mum then."

"Molly will go down for this. Would your father do what is needed to disown her, Ron, and Ginny?" Harry questioned.

"No, I don't think he could," George replied.

"He will lose everything then. I don't think he will keep his job in the Ministry. You could hire him into the joke shop," Harry suggested. "He could help you by researching non-magical jokes and modifying them with magical versions."

"We can't afford to pay his income initially," Fred admitted.

"I will cover his pay until you guys can manage it. Don't worry about it. But I want a twenty percent share as a silent partner," Harry said.

"We were already planning on cutting you in for a third," George offered.

"No, no. Twenty percent is fine. I have a shop already purchased in Diagon Alley for your use," Harry explained. "This shop is located right next to the local branch of Potter Tech."

"Harry…," Fred began before having to stop due to overwhelming emotions consisting primarily of gratitude. "Why are you doing this after what our mum and two of our siblings just tried to do to you?"

"Despite what Ron and Ginny just did I had some good years with your family. Your mother is dead to me but with the exception of Ron, Ginny, and Percy I like the Weasleys. You gave me the Marauders Map when you definitely didn't have to. You two have always been really good to me. Which reminds me," Harry said as he produced two new looking pieces of folded parchment from his pocket and handed one to each of the twins. "I think you two should have a copy of that map."

"You were able to duplicate it?" George asked with surprise as his brother activated the map with a whispered phrase.

"Yes. In case you haven't figured out from my ridiculously successful company I am smarter than I let on. Hermione, myself, and anyone with us won't be visible on your maps without a password from me unlocking additional features," Harry explained. "You two really should stick around and enjoy the show. It's going to be a hell of a year. Finish out your NEWT studies and enjoy the company of some good looking witches. We can discuss contracts later. For now let's return to the feast."

The twins nodded their agreement and followed Harry back into the hall. They were still upset about the actions of their mother, brother, and sister but not as worried after the conversation they had just had. The future was both brighter and darker than it had been before that night.

Harry retook his seat next to Hermione and felt her reach beneath the table and squeeze his hand affectionately. Harry experienced a flood of emotions flow through him concerning Hermione. He loved that witch _so_ damn much. As conversation flowed throughout the feast he caught himself stealing glances at her. She tucked loose strands of hair behind her right ear at one point in that deliciously cute way Harry found adorable.

"So Harry, you and Hermione," Lavender said. "That's new."

"But not unexpected," Seamus added. "When did you finally pull your head out of your arse, Harry?"

"Very early on in the summer," Harry answered. "After last year what happened with Cedric and almost dying facing Voldemort," he continued, ignoring the shudders of discomfort at the hated name. "The fact that life was too short and dangerous to dick around really hit home."

"I can't say I'm displeased about the result," Hermione put forth.

"Nor should you be," Parvati commented while eying Harry appreciatively. "You're looking very fit this year, Harry."

"You too, Neville," Lavender added.

"And you as well, Hermione," Dean said.

"Harry has been providing us some training over the summer," Neville explained.

"What kind of training?" Seamus asked, interested.

"How to be a badass," Neville answered with a roguish grin that surprised his house mates.

"You didn't need much help there, Nev," Harry assured with a grin. "My god-brother here kicked some serious Death Eater arse this summer."

"We saw it in the papers," Parvati assured. "Padma and I almost couldn't believe it. Are the rumors of all the things you two and Ron have gotten up to over the years here at school true?"

That question was directed at Harry and Hermione.

"What are the rumors?" Hermione queried.

"The rumors started in first year and are that in first year you defeated _Voldemort_ in some form again," Dean explained, struggling to say the dark wizard's name.

"That's true," Hermione replied. "Harry defeated Voldemort who was hitching a ride with Quirrell, leaching off of Quirrell to survive in a coherent form."

"Then second year did you save Ginny Weasley from a basilisk and defeat Him again?" Parvati asked.

"Yes," Neville answered. "Harry did that."

In his past existence at this same point in his life Harry would have been highly uncomfortable admitting to all of this. After having lived several centuries with fame Harry was far more comfortable with it.

"In third year is it true you learned the Patronus charm and fought off over a hundred dementors?" Lavender asked with a tone of awe in her voice.

"Yes," Hermione confirmed.

"And you all know what happened last year with Cedric I'm sure because I told several people," Harry said.

"He's really back then," Seamus said with dread. "My mum didn't believe it and didn't want me to come back. At first she believed the Prophet about you too, Harry. But then you saved those people in Diagon Alley. I mean you were a hero for defeating Him as a baby but you did this saving in the Alley yourself as an adult."

"He _is_ a hero," Hermione agreed while smiling warmly at her boyfriend.

"Alright, that's enough of that. You guys are going to make me blush," Harry commented breaking the tension.

The fifth year Gryffindors chatted away throughout their meal until the feast ended. Dumbledore rose and began going through the start of term announcements. Harry mostly tuned the headmaster out until Umbridge was announced.

"We are delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new instructor of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore said.

Harry watched as Umbridge interrupted the headmaster and stood to make a speech.

"Thank you Headmaster for those words of warm welcome," Delores began.

The next moment a loud fart sounded throughout the Great Hall obviously originating from Umbridge. Umbridge's face went red as snickers began to break out throughout the hall. She tried to ignore it and opened her mouth to continue her speech but another loud fart ripped through the hall. Umbridge clutched at her stomach and proceeded to shit herself. The sight was so revolting several students throughout the hall proceeded to vomit. Dumbledore rose swiftly and cast a spell at the new DADA professor that obscured her and a cube of space surrounding her for a meter around her from sight. Poppy rushed from her spot at the table to Umbridge.

"Our new professor appears to be ill," Dumbledore said as he turned back to the students. "You are dismissed for the evening. Welcome back."

Harry and Hermione rose and walked towards the first years.

"First years to us," Hermione directed.

The group of first years rose and followed Harry and Hermione out of the Great Hall through the Entrance Hall and up the stairs. Harry and Hermione answered questions the first years had while the group walked to Gryffindor tower and explained some facts of magical education.

When they reached the portrait hole Harry said, "I would like you all to keep these maps with you." Harry waved his wand and a piece of magically protected parchment appeared in the hands of each first year. "If you are in trouble tell the map _I Need Help_. Those maps will lead Hermione and I right to you. Tell the map what location you are trying to find and it will lead you right to that location."

"The password at this current time is Mimbus Mimbletonia which is a magical plant," Hermione informed the group. As she stepped into the common room she said, "And this is the Gryffindor house common room. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep. Girls are on that side and boys are on that side."

Hermione indicated the correct staircase for each sex with a finger as she spoke. The first years departed the common room quickly. The common room still had quite a few students milling about including a sizeable portion of the fifth year class. Harry and Hermione went over and joined their year mates.

"Got the firsties all settled in?" Lavender queried.

"As much as firsties can be," Harry answered.

"We were just discussing what happened with Umbridge," Neville explained.

"The bitch deserves it," Harry stated surprising his year mates. "She has been sending Dementors to try to suck my soul out all summer."

"So you made her shit herself?" Parvati asked in surprise.

"I won't deny it in front of you all but don't go repeating it," Harry said while looking specifically at Lavender and Parvati, Gryffindor's two biggest gossips.

"That's brilliant, mate," Dean said with a grin.

Seamus asked Hermione, "Why don't you have a problem with what he did, Hermione? You have always hated rule breaking."

"Harry has gotten me to loosen up over the summer," Hermione admitted. She realized what she had said when Seamus let out a guffaw and the others in the group broke out with wide grins. "Not like that! I mean he has gotten me to relax a bit."

This didn't abate the grins.

"I can assure you Hermione hasn't loosened up one bit," Harry put forth as he tightened his arm around her shoulder and gave a toothy grin to his year mates.

"You two _are_ shagging," Lavender whispered furiously.

"Are they ever," Neville said with a teasing grin for his two best friends.

"_Neville_," Hermione hissed scandalized.

"This is payback for not using silencing charms all the time," Neville informed Hermione.

"Oh we used them," Harry corrected. "Hermione's screaming just overwhelmed the silencing charms."

"_Harry_," Hermione said with what was practically a growl.

Parvati and Lavender stood in unison as if they had rehearsed it and each took one of Hermione's hands. They pulled Miss Granger to her feet and started dragging her towards the stairs to the girls' dorms.

"Come, Hermione. You are going to give us details," Lavender said.

Hermione glanced back at her boyfriend with a nervous expression.

"Have fun, dear," Harry called after his mate.

"She is going to make you pay for that later, bro," Neville pointed out.

"I know. But it will feel so damn good," Harry assured.

"You _have_ changed, Harry," Dean observed.

"For the better too," Seamus added. "Good on you, mate. It will be different without Ron around."

"The elves will have less work straightening up," Harry said. "If it wasn't for them our dorm would have been horrendously messy."

"What happened between you and Ron, Harry?" Dean asked.

"He tried love potioning Hermione and I. Over the summer I realized how much of a negative influence that Ron had on me and instead have decided to cultivate better friends," Harry explained. "I hope you and Seamus will be countable among those friends in days to come."

"I think we would like that," Seamus agreed.

"We should get up to the dorm and get things set up and get to bed. Big day tomorrow," Neville suggested.

The other three agreed and followed Neville towards the dorm.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione spotted the message on the house notice board first thing next morning.

"Harry, I may be more relaxed but that can't stand," Hermione pointed out while indicating the message from Fred and George which offered to pay for students to test the twins' joke products on.

Harry had been working with Hermione since she had discovered his time traveling nature to teach her a great many things. One of those skills he had been trying to impart was essentially telepathy. The mind arts, what was traditionally known as occlumency and legilimency, had come a long way in Harry's lifetime. Harry didn't require eye contact like a traditional legilimens. A traditional occlumens would need immense skill to defend themselves from Harry and even then that might not help them. Hermione wasn't very far along but Harry could bridge the gap so to speak. Mental communication was an added benefit for the couple. When they didn't want to talk about something aloud in public so that the topic of conversation could remain private they now had the means.

"_Calm down, love,"_ Harry sent to Hermione. _"Don't forget that I know the product line that Fred and George produce. While I don't know everything they tried before they got the working products what they produced and sold gives me a good idea. I'm also bloody good at potions. And my computer systems have simulators which can test the effects a potion or any compound will have on a living organism. I can even clone organs to test on."_

"_You can?"_ Hermione asked in amazement.

"_Yes,"_ Harry assured.

"_I sometimes forget just how advanced the time you came from was,"_ Hermione admitted.

"_It's easy to do,"_ Harry said. _"We can have a chat with the twins and oversee their product testing. Or rather I will since I'm the one who is investing in their company and reaping all the benefit."_

"_Harry, I love you. I will help,"_ Hermione assured while silently hoping that one day she would be Mrs. Potter and therefore would be reaping the same rewards as Harry from the success of the twins.

It wasn't that Hermione was particularly interested in any monetary rewards. She was interested in sharing her life with her best friend. The couple waited for Neville to arrive in the common room before the trio went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry hadn't been seated long before Angelina Johnson, his quidditch teammate approached him.

"Hello, Angelina," Harry greeted. "Congratulations on being made team captain."

"You knew?" Angelina said as she blinked in surprise.

"I had to fight just to get made prefect. And you have earned the captaincy," Harry pointed out.

"Well thanks," Angelina said.

Angelina informed Harry of the tryout time and that she wanted the whole team present to help her pick a new keeper before she left. The conversation throughout breakfast was varied but for the fifth years primarily focused on the OWL exams they would be taking at the end of the school year. OWLs were a large determining factor in the future careers a Hogwarts graduate could enter into. Harry was going to do really well on the exams even if his tinkering with the timeline had caused the questions to change which he doubted. Harry didn't think the changes he had made in the timeline would influence test questions but he couldn't be certain of that easily. He supposed he could always go check the test questions in a number of methods but he didn't feel the need to. He was an extremely experienced mage.

At one point in the conversation Harry sent to Hermione, _"Are you going to let me help you focus your study on the questions that are most likely to be on the OWLs?"_

"_Harry…that would feel like cheating to me,"_ Hermione admitted.

"_I can't help it in my case because I already know those questions that were on my OWLs. But you aren't restrained that way. I won't push you to do what I'm going to do but I will point out something. If you study focused on those questions and get it over with that will leave more time for you to learn the other advanced magics I can teach you,"_ Harry sent.

"_You fight dirty, Mr. Potter. I will think about it,"_ Hermione said.

On the way to History of Magic after breakfast Neville posed an interesting question.

"What do you two want to do as a career after school?" Neville asked.

"I think I would like to be a mixture of a magical researcher and explorer," Harry answered. "I can invent spells and technology and I would also like to explore our universe."

"That sounds like fun," Hermione admitted. "I wouldn't mind doing that myself."

"I would love to do that with you," Harry told his girlfriend. "What about you, Nev?"

"Herbology has always interested me as you know. I would like to do something along those lines," Nev admitted. "I'm just not sure what."

"How about genetically engineering new plant life forms," Harry suggested.

"What does genetically engineering mean?" Neville asked. "I know what engineering is because you explained that to me."

Neville had wanted to know what exactly Harry did within Potter Tech other than running the company so the celebrity had explained a bit.

"It means you can modify the plants on a level so small and fundamental that we can't see it with our eyes in order to create entirely new species of plants," Hermione explained.

"I can send you some reading material on your laptop so that you can decide if that is something you want to pursue," Harry suggested.

"I would appreciate that. It sounds fascinating," Neville admitted just before the trio entered the history classroom.

Harry caught Cho Chang giving him longing looks between classes. Harry knew her emotions were screwed up after Cedric's death and really wanted no part of her drama. Cho and her clique hadn't been nice to Luna at all. Harry made a mental note to check up on Luna and meet with her more often. The blonde 'Claw had been a good friend in the future. In Potions, Harry brewed a perfect Draught of Peace to Snape's obvious dissatisfaction. Snape stared intently at Harry's potion for forty-five seconds with a displeased glare before moving on. Harry recalled in his previous life having botched the potion allowing Snape to vanish the potion.

"_He didn't look pleased that you are doing so well,"_ Hermione sent to her boyfriend.

"_In my last time through I screwed up and he vanished my potion. The Slytherins loved it. I made sure after I graduated that I became highly proficient at Potions. But that isn't hard given how many years I had to practice,"_ Harry sent.

Just as Harry was preparing to put his perfect potion in a flagon to turn in he sensed it. With superhuman reflexes Harry turned and caught the spell meant to ruin his potion in his right hand. Moving at the speed of a Kryptonian, Harry supercharged the spell and sent it hurtling back at Snape's wand arm. Snape's arm up to the elbow exploded violently and sent shrapnel of bone, blood, and flesh hurtling throughout the classroom. Harry deflected the bone chips from harming students but everyone got messy. Snape clutched at the stump screaming in pain. He wasn't the only one screaming.

Harry calmly enclosed himself, Hermione, and Neville in a silencing ward to cut off the noise of the screams. He pulled out his mobile and hit the speed dial.

"Harry, what can I do for you?" Amelia asked.

As he drew a memory from his head and conjured a container before sending the vial off in a tiny flash of twinkling light Harry answered, "Well I just wanted to inform you that a supposedly reformed Death Eater just sent a spell at me or my potion's cauldron. I'm not sure what he was aiming for. I had a ward up that sent the destructive spell back with enough force to blow Snape's arm off up to the elbow."

"I assume this is the memory of the event that just appeared on my desk?" Amelia clarified.

"Yes," Harry answered.

"One moment," Amelia said as she loaded the memory into her pensieve and watched it. The memory only took moments to play out. "I don't see this as any fault of yours. Do you need me to come there and deal with Dumbledore?"

"Not at this time. But could you write a letter saying as much and put it in the pouch that is appearing on your desk right now just in case I need it? I can always put you on speaker phone if I need to," Harry said.

"I'm doing so right now," Amelia said. "I won't ask how you are bypassing the wards at Hogwarts and the Ministry to send and retrieve things from me without using a floo connection. I know you won't answer."

"Thank you, Amelia," Harry said before hanging up.

Temporal transportation ignored things like wards unless those wards were specifically designed to block against temporal transport.

Dumbledore burst into the potions classroom at that moment with the school nurse and Deputy Headmistress in tow.

"What is going on here?" Dumbledore demanded as Poppy rushed over to help Snape.

"What is going on is that Snape attempted to curse either myself or my potion. I do not know which. The ward I had on my cauldron returned the attack tenfold," Harry explained.

"I find your use of such dark magic unacceptable, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said gravely.

"I find the fact that you would chastise me for this attack on my person ludicrous. Be advised Headmaster that I have already communicated with the DMLE and have been cleared of any wrongdoing in this matter. Any attempt to punish me for defending myself will have serious repercussions for the school. I would take such a punishment as grounds for withdrawing from this school and contacting several news services to ensure as many other students knew of your policies as possible," Harry warned.

"I see," Dumbledore said while an appraising look flashed through his eyes.

"Headmaster, there isn't enough left of his arm to restore it," Poppy advised. "I'm afraid his potions brewing days are over."

"Take Severus to the infirmary," Albus instructed. "Go with them please, Minerva. Please escort Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom to their next class and advise Professor Umbridge that Mr. Potter will be late."

Hermione and Neville looked reluctant to go but followed McGonagall out.

"Well…now you have me alone," Harry said ominously. "Do you intend to mentally probe me or obliviate me?"

Dumbledore sat down on the edge of a desk with his shoulders slumped. Harry wasn't falling for the _poor old man_ act.

"Harry, I am saddened you would think I would do such a thing," Dumbledore said. "What has gotten into you? Why are you acting so differently to last year?"

"Gee Headmaster, could it because I watched a friend die at the hands of Voldemort last year and then spent the summer being vilified by the press," Harry said rhetorically. "I'm not going to put up with anymore shite."

"Harry, those events are not my fault. Professor Snape was our best chance at fighting Voldemort. You have seriously handicapped his ability to serve our efforts," Dumbledore pointed out.

"Headmaster, you are just damn lucky I restrained myself. I should kill that scumbag where he stands. Now if there is nothing else I should be getting on to my next class," Harry stated.

"No, there is nothing else," Dumbledore said while still wearing a defeated demeanor.

Harry arrived at Umbridge's classroom in time to hear Umbridge say to Hermione, "Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide the structure of classes here at Hogwarts."

"What qualifies the Ministry _experts_ to structure our classes? Have they ever taught a class in their lives?" Harry asked as he took a seat between Hermione and Neville.

"Hand Mr. Potter," Umbridge rebuked. "The Ministry of Magic has accredited these experts."

"A Ministry who employs no personnel who have ever taught as Hogwarts professors or at any other recognized schools in the world," Harry pointed out.

"That is enough, Mr. Potter," Umbridge said in a whisper.

At that moment the door to the classroom opened and a tall pale figure stepped in. The students went completely silent and Umbridge turned to see who had dared to interrupt her class. Standing in the doorway in all of his nose-less serpent-like glory was Lord Voldemort. Someone in the classroom soiled themselves completely at that moment. Umbridge pissed herself. With a wave of his wand Voldemort erected a barrier spell across the front of the classroom so that it blocked the students off from the exit and where Umbridge stood. There were screams and students fled their seats to reach the back of the classroom. Harry was the only one who didn't move. He stood up and walked towards the barrier spell with his wand drawn. He ran his wand along the barrier.

Meanwhile Riddle stalked towards Umbridge saying, "I hear you don't think I am a threat, Madam Umbridge."

"You can't be real," Umbridge said with a quavering voice.

"I assure you that I can be," Riddle said while leveling his wand at Umbridge and sending a ruby red curse from its tip coursing into her body.

Umbridge screamed and writhed in agony after collapsing to the classroom floor.

"What do we do?" Parvati asked with terror in her tone.

"Stay calm," Harry warned even as he raised his hand to the barrier and began to channel brilliantly purple glowing energy into the shield.

Voldemort saw what Harry was doing and dropped the curse. Riddle levitated Umbridge and disappeared out the door. Moments after Voldemort had left Harry had the barrier spell down. He conjured a messenger spell which headed towards the headmaster's office and then turned to check on his classmates.

"Go ahead and call Amelia. We will check on the others," Hermione assured her boyfriend.

"You are the perfect woman," Harry whispered. "You are brilliant and beautiful."

Hermione let a small smile slip onto her lips despite the situation.

Amelia arrived around the same time as Dumbledore which was a surprise. She had a lot further to travel.

"How did you get here so quickly?" Neville asked Amelia as Dumbledore, several teachers, and several Aurors followed the DMLE director into the classroom.

"I have put together a response team for Hogwarts. We have a direct floo connection to a heavily warded room in the school," Amelia explained. "I figured it was prudent with all the trouble this year. Now would someone share a memory of the event with me?"

Harry drew out his memory and placed it in the pensieve Amelia had brought. Amelia tapped the pensieve's control runes in a particular sequence and was rewarded with the scene that had occurred minutes before playing out again. The students had been shepherded back to their dorms from all over the school.

"_Merlin_, he was in the school," Minerva whispered when the memory had stopped.

Amelia had pulled out her mobile and was issuing orders into the device after using the speed dial to contact her subordinates at the Ministry. More Aurors would soon be on their way.

"I want you to start searching the school in groups of three. If you encounter Voldemort don't engage unless absolutely necessary. Call for backup. I suspect he is long gone. Why he came just for Umbridge is beyond me," Amelia said.

"Tom may be making an example out of her because she has denied his return so vehemently," Dumbledore suggested.

"Maybe," Amelia said. "You three should return to your common room," she added to Harry, Hermione, and Neville.

When she made to gesture towards several Aurors to escort them Harry said, "No need. I can see us back safely."

"Yes, I suppose you can," Amelia agreed, having seen Harry in action in the battle of Diagon Alley.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville left the DADA classroom and headed back towards Gryffindor tower. When they reached the tower the common room was hectically busy with students talking about the abduction of Umbridge.

"I think I'm going to go catch a nap while I have the opportunity," Neville told his friends.

"That is not a bad idea. Let's do that too, Harry," Hermione suggested.

The trio went up to the fifth year boys' dorm. Hermione climbed into bed with Harry and they pulled the curtains shut, cutting off all sound.

"_Were you involved with what just happened to Umbridge in some way?"_ Hermione sent curiously, not accusingly.

"_Hermione, I can honestly say that woman was incredibly vile. She has been trying to murder me all summer by sending Dementors after me. If she had gotten caught for her crimes she would have been sentenced to the tortures of those same creatures for the rest of her life at the very least,"_ Harry sent.

"_You don't want her to suffer like that do you?"_ Hermione surmised.

"_No, because I have a far better use for her. I have a personal prison. I call it Fallen Prison. Through it I can use the magic of the prisoners and redirect it to some purpose I decide. Think of them in a comatose like state. I did at first want Umbridge to suffer for her crimes but that would mean my fellow students would have to suffer as she commits more crimes. That is unacceptable to me. Furthermore if she is conscious that leaves a chance however small that Umbridge could escape. Fallen Prison would kill the prisoners before it let them escape if the suspension charms ever failed,"_ Harry explained.

"_Fascinating,"_ Hermione mused. _"I would like to learn more about your prison and how it works sometime. Now I would like to learn more about that incredible golem version of Riddle. It could cast powerful magic! I've never heard of a golem being that life-like or being capable of powerful magic like that."_

"_That was a crystalline entity with a holographic projection matrix built into the surface of its form,"_ Harry explained. _"It can assume virtually any form. The cruciatus spell you saw was actually only an illusion. That energy beam was a pain inflicting beam that works similar to the cruciatus but unlike the cruciatus the pain is purely physical. The pain can also be easily varied in intensity. I do have versions of that being that can use magic but creating those beings can be trickier. Their holographic matrixes sometimes destabilize slightly when magic is used. I wanted no chance of my Riddle being found out."_

"_That's amazing,"_ Hermione admitted.

"_I'll show you more,"_ Harry offered as he began projecting holograms out of a micro-emitter he carried on his person.

The couple enjoyed their time together transferring knowledge in Harry's bed.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

_**Dark Lord Invades Hogwarts and Kidnaps Senior Undersecretary Delores Umbridge**_

_**By Lily Potter**_

_Yesterday the Dark Lord Voldemort swept into a DADA classroom at Hogwarts and kidnapped the teacher. Officials are still unclear how Voldemort made it into the school without notice but this individual has proven quite resourceful in the past. _

The article went on to give more details about the case.

"What the hell?" Voldemort asked as he read the article in his throne room.

Riddle was unsure what was going on. Someone was obviously impersonating him but Riddle had no clue who would have the bollocks to do such a thing let alone the skill. Riddle couldn't let it be known that someone was impersonating him or it would be shown as a sign of weakness and a distinct lack of fear of him. He would become a joke. No, Riddle would keep this quiet for now and investigate himself. Besides, capturing the senior undersecretary wasn't exactly the act of a good person nor was torturing her in front of a classroom full of children. This would help Voldemort's reputation. Tom turned his attention to another interesting article in the paper.

_**Sirius Black Innocent! Fudge Arrested for Multiple Misuses of Position!**_

_**By Lily Potter**_

_Yes readers, you read that right. Sirius Black who was believed to be the betrayer of myself and my husband James was not in fact our betrayer. We cast the Fidelius Charm on our home fifteen years ago and did originally plan to use Sirius Black as our secret keeper. But then the idea formed to use Sirius as a decoy for our real secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew. This turned out to be the worst mistake we ever could have made. Pettigrew was a traitor and betrayed us to Voldemort. Pettigrew then managed to frame Sirius for the murder of twelve muggles before escaping in his animagus form, that of a rat, after having cut off a finger. Sirius was put into Azkaban by the Bagnold administration. _

_Cornelius Fudge was apprised of these truths two years ago but wouldn't listen for fear of bad publicity falling on him. He ordered Sirius kissed on sight. The DMLE was only recently informed of these events and has over the past few months been conducting an in depth investigation into the Fudge administration. Much more was discovered than just Fudge's crimes against Sirius Black. For more details on the Fudge case see page four. _

_This writer is glad to see that the hunt for Sirius Black has ended. No pardon is needed because Sirius was never even charged. He is a good man and would make an excellent replacement for Fudge after he recovers from Azkaban. Rumor is that the Ministry will be paying him a sizeable sum for illegal incarceration. For more details of the true history of Sirius Orion Black see page eight. _

Tom paused in his reading thinking about these latest developments. So the truth about Sirius Black had finally surfaced. While this was unfortunate it wouldn't seriously hinder Voldemort. Fudge's replacement with a competent wizard could be problematic but Tom was doubtful Sirius Black would be much of anything after so long in Azkaban. Perhaps that could be to Tom's advantage. He would have to wait and see. It amused Tom that the Ministry had been unable to stop the elusive writer using the name of Lily Potter and had been unable to block the enchantments that caused the contents of the Daily Prophet to change after delivery. If it wasn't for the fact that the Prophet's readership had gone up the paper probably would have shut down by now. It seemed the public liked the truth. Tom ignored the fact that he couldn't break the enchantments on his papers either.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

As Harry attended classes with his girlfriend and god-brother they were frequently visited by Nym in the guise of a Hogwarts student. Nym seemed to be all over Neville. Luna had been invited to attend meals with the Gryffindor trio and she also seemed to be very attentive to Neville. Neville certainly didn't seem to mind. Harry recalled from his past life the fighting going on between Ron and Hermione at this point over the whole SPEW campaign Hermione had been going hard at. Harry had caught Hermione starting her efforts to knit the elves hats over the summer and had quickly dissuaded her from this path.

Harry had patiently explained to his girlfriend that the elves did not want to be freed because of their conditioning. It had taken him suggesting an alternative course of action for her to abandon her attempts to trick the elves into freedom. It was only now after she knew about his true time traveling nature that Hermione could witness through memories shared just how unwelcome her plan would have been. Now Hermione's goal was to set up a policing agency using abused and freed elves to network with other elves. The agency would then pursue freeing the abused elves only. Hermione wasn't entirely pleased with the concept of leaving the rest of the elves as slaves but she did agree that trying to free all elves at once might be too big of a goal for her to achieve.

Harry remembered his time at Hogwarts in his past life very well. At this point at the beginning of the week the fifth years were starting to realize the amount of work involved in their OWL year. To add to that stress Umbridge was giving Harry and several others detentions that were preventing the students from completing their after class work. Umbridge was gone now so that wasn't a problem. As for the increased amount of out of class work assigned Harry was assisting Neville with that. Hermione had agreed to let Harry give her memories of her previous year's work in favor of learning new topics. Harry had at least glanced at every piece of work Hermione had turned in during their previous life and all it took was a glance when using a pensieve to retrieve all pertinent information from a document.

Learning new topics was what saw Harry, Hermione, and Neville standing in one of the unused classrooms on the sixth floor of the castle on Wednesday of that first week of school. It was late in the evening long after dinner when Harry sensed the last member invited approaching.

"Welcome Luna," Harry greeted as Luna entered the room. Harry sent a spell at the door which would make it undetectable from the outside. "I thought maybe you would enjoy learning some advanced magics with these two."

Luna tilted her head at a slight angle and stared at Harry quizzically.

"I believe I would," Luna agreed.

"Tonight I'm going to teach you guys an array of tunneling spells which willow allow you to move through any type of soil, rock, or mineral and see where you are going. This is very handy to know for stealth and can be quite surprising if used against an enemy," Harry explained.

"Can you move through diamonds and other hard minerals?" Neville asked curiously.

"The goblins wouldn't like to admit you can but they use a form of these magics to tunnel down to such hard minerals rather than digging traditional tunnels. Some of these spells work by pushing matter out of phase with the dimensions of spacetime we inhabit. The duration of time matter can be pushed out for and what types of matter can be pushed out depend on the skill and power of the magician," Harry explained. "If some of these spells were widely known to exist then a lot of people would find it easier to mine precious gems and the goblin nation would hate that. Now let's begin."

Harry worked at half a dozen spells with his friends for the next two hours. The three students didn't become masters of the spells in that time but they became proficient. Practice would be required.

As the quartet was relaxing after their magical workout Neville asked Luna, "Luna, would you like to join us for watching a movie in the Gryffindor common room?"

"What is a movie?" Luna asked.

"It's like a book but with moving pictures. The non-magicals came up with it. It's entertaining," Hermione explained.

"I would like that," Luna agreed.

"Careful, Nev," Harry teased. "Nym will get mad she might lose her shoulder pillow if you invite another witch along."

"I have two shoulders Harry if Luna is at all inclined to using me as a pillow," Neville replied with a slight grin in Luna's direction.

Luna smiled back shyly. Luna still wasn't used to having cute guys interested in her and it was obvious Neville was somewhat interested in her. Though it seemed he also might be interested in Nym if their interactions at meal times were any indicator. Frequent movies in the late evenings had become quite popular in the Gryffindor common room ever since Harry had installed the equipment to watch them. It also helped advertise Potter Tech merchandise.

As Harry sat curled up in a love seat with Hermione practically molding herself against him he felt quite satisfied. During classes he found memories and sensations coming back to him from his past life through this same time. It wasn't that he had forgotten any of these memories because he could recall them any time through use of a pensieve but he had let them slip into the monotony of memories that didn't matter quite as much. In general these memories and sensations were not pleasant. He found himself often remembering the tortures Umbridge had inflicted upon him during this point in time with her blood quill. He had considered it a battle of wills between himself and her. Harry honestly thought in hindsight he should have slit the bitch's throat in her sleep and been done with it. Umbridge was a weak willed creature at heart. She had given in to temptation and darkness and had subsequently gone down a dark path.

But it was times like this snuggled up to Hermione where memories of the past couldn't hurt him for these experiences were new to Harry. He had never been this close to Hermione in his past life at this point in time or even at all. Harry squeezed Hermione's hips and nuzzled her ear as the Star Wars movie played for the watching crowd.

Hermione turned her head. She was half sitting on Harry. She could feel a certain hardness she was enthusiastically becoming familiar with pushing against her hip. His eyes smoldered with desire and unmatched love directed at her.

"_Someone is feeling frisky,"_ Hermione mentally purred. _"What brought this on?"_

"_My girlfriend is bloody gorgeous and I can feel her bum on my leg. Do I need any other reason?"_ Harry replied. Hermione gave him a probing look. _"Alright…so I just noticed how much spending time like this with you keeps the bad memories away. I'm very appreciative of your presence in my life. I love you so much."_

Hermione's look turned tender and she kissed Harry sweetly.

"_You Mr. Potter are going to be teased and aroused for the rest of the movie. Then when we get back to the dorm I'm going to ravish you for most of the night,"_ Hermione promised.

She proceeded to move her bum fully onto his lap and for the rest of the movie she wiggled it at various points to grind her rump into his hardness. Hermione paid the price after the movie but she certainly didn't mind. The couple had taken to sleeping in Harry's bed with the curtains magically sealed shut. It was an arrangement they both enjoyed.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Harry had heard that Severus Snape was now the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher filling in for the missing Umbridge. Harry had thought his dismemberment of Snape had been enough of a clue for the headmaster but apparently that wasn't the case. Harry didn't have Snape in DADA until the second week of term due to the times for all of his remaining classes with Umbridge for that first week having passed. He would just have to make his point harder.

The only other event of note in the remainder of the first week was Neville making the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the keeper. Harry had worked hard with Hermione and Neville that summer to overcome their fear of flying because it was a weakness. Neville had turned out to be a fairly good keeper.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 10/27/2014


	7. Chapter 7

**260 Going on 16**

By SciFiFantasyWriter1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.

Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson

Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Chapter 7

When the Saturday of the first week of term dawned Hermione awoke to find she was no longer sleeping on top of Harry but she was still touching him. She had her back pressed against him. He had his laptop sitting on his lap and was busily typing away. She sat up and stretched noticing his gaze admire her nude form as she did so.

"Good morning, beautiful," Harry greeted.

"You so need to teach me that spell you developed to absorb the energy from sunlight," Hermione grumbled as she sat up next to her mate and looked down at his computer.

Harry was maintaining chat windows with several people including Sirius and Alice, performing work for his company, and surfing the growing internet.

With a small grin Harry said, "I wish you could use it right now but until your body is properly prepared it wouldn't do any good."

It would take about a decade of special magical exercises before Hermione's body was developed enough to work with the spell based off of Kryptonian physiology.

"I know," Hermione said with a sigh of disappointment. "I wouldn't mind having your energy levels though and the extra reading time that comes with rising with the sun."

"You'll get there eventually, love," Harry assured. "There was an oil tanker accident this morning in the Indian ocean. Super-Man was there to deal with the problem."

"Hence why you are freshly showered," Hermione surmised which earned a nod from her boyfriend. "How is work?"

Hermione was inquiring about the state of her boyfriend's company.

"I'm disgustingly wealthy and getting wealthier by a considerable margin every second that passes. People love Potter Tech products," Harry answered.

"Mum mentioned as much to me last night," Hermione admitted. Hermione talked to her parents, her mother more so than her father, every evening via instant messaging. The Grangers loved their laptops and other gifts from Harry. The closeness they were now able to share was a huge plus in their life. "You're developing quite the following in the non-magical world. You should hear how much some of these girls drool over you on the forums devoted to discussion of you."

Harry said, "Do I detect jealousy, Miss Granger?"

"I have no reason to be jealous. Do I," Hermione said as if stating a fact.

"No you don't," Harry agreed.

"Mum and dad are looking forward to dinner tonight," Hermione stated.

"I'm looking forward to your mother's cooking. She was always a great cook," Harry suggested. "Sirius and Alice love her food too."

Hermione glanced at her boyfriend as he closed his laptop and set it aside, wondering at his tone when speaking of her mother. She was slightly suspicious of the relationship he had held with her mother during his previous timeline. There was too much intimacy when he spoke of Hermione's mum for her to be comfortable. That was a major reason why she had never asked about the relationship because Hermione didn't really think she wanted to know.

"Alice wasn't a bad cook either," Hermione pointed out.

"Not as bad as Sirius at least," Harry said with a grin.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville would be having dinner on Saturdays at the houses of the Grangers, Sirius, and the Longbottoms on a rotating basis throughout the school year.

"Should we invite Luna? Nym is going to be there," Hermione pointed out.

Remus and Tonks would be attending the meals even though the cooking rotation never went to them to cook. They generally assisted whoever was cooking the meal. Nym had a flat that wasn't big enough to host anybody and Remus was living at Grimmauld Place with Sirius.

"Well on the one hand we can't be expected to keep Neville's time with each of them balanced. Nym is always here at meal times when Luna is able to sit with us. So they get equal time there. Luna has an advantage with Neville during our practice time. So if Luna wasn't at dinners it would kind of even out. But I'm not too concerned about even time. I think we've played enough match maker," Harry said.

"You're right," Hermione agreed. "But from my perspective it's a bit different. I have become good friends with both Luna and Nym, despite the fact that I know you slept with both in your past life." Harry's grin was a bit sheepish at this point. "They both comment all the time how lucky I am to have you. But they also express how much they like Neville. I don't really know who likes him more."

"Don't kill me for asking but perhaps they might like to share him? The magical world has a lot looser ethics when it comes to that sort of thing and I know for a fact both Nym and Luna have bisexual tendencies," Harry suggested.

"You're too cute to kill…for something so trivial," Hermione teased. "I don't know. I'll have to give the situation some more thought. Now give a girl a back rub to get me in the mood for a quickie before breakfast."

They both knew Hermione didn't need any help getting in the mood but Harry did it anyway. Why would he ever refuse the chance to run his hands all over the nude body of his girlfriend.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"This new wing of the house looks great," Nym praised after taking a bite of her delicious dinner.

"I still can't believe how little time it took Harry to do it," Emma mused.

"Bloody right," Dan said in a grumbling tone. "It always took me a long time to do renovations. He comes along and is done in minutes."

"Oh hush and be grateful," Emma said teasingly to her husband.

"I am grateful. I just think it's unfair he can do it so quickly and make it look so easy," Dan replied.

"It just means you have more time for other things, daddy," Hermione suggested. "Maybe you could take Sirius, Remus, and Harry hunting sometime."

"You wizards hunt?" Dan asked the males with an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Only on the full moon," Remus joked a bit self-deprecatingly.

"Werewolf humor, how droll," Nym teased.

"I try to hunt every animal at least once and clean it myself. But I insist on eating the animal too," Harry said.

"Harry has a bit of survivalist in him," Hermione added.

"Survivalist…what does that mean?" Sirius replied in confusion.

"A survivalist is a person who prepares themselves for surviving in the wild with very little to work with," Remus tried to explain to his friend. "Imagine yourself lost in the woods with no wand and unable to transform into your animagus form. Learning to survive like that would be the task of a survivalist."

"That is a simplistic definition. I do that too but I also like to learn how to build technology and all the amenities you can think of both magical and non-magical as if I didn't have the support structure that modern society involves," Harry explained. "I find it somewhat fun."

"It can be a bit fun," Hermione admitted.

"But why do it?" Sirius questioned.

"I'll use an example you can understand, Sirius," Harry said. "If magical government suddenly collapsed and the Death Eaters took over what would you do? If you were hunted where would you go? And this time you wouldn't be able to live off the dregs of society in your animagus form. Most people can't transform into a dog that can scavenge for food."

Sirius was silent for a moment but then said, "I think I see your point. I would much rather try learning that knowledge now rather than later."

"There are all kinds of scenarios where those skills would come in handy," Hermione added.

"Well what would _you_ do if Death Eaters took over the government, Harry?" Nym asked curiously.

"I'd kill them all," Harry answered simply which silenced the room.

Of course that wasn't true. Harry wouldn't kill them all. He would imprison his enemies in Fallen Prison and let their magic enhance his own abilities.

"Given what we have learned of these Death Eaters I can't say I blame you," Emma commented.

None of those present in the room even bothered questioning if Harry could kill the Death Eaters or not. Given his performances in the area of magical combat in the recent past his capability was not in question.

"Speaking of Death Eaters…I'm quite looking forward to your first class with Snape as a DADA teacher next week," Alice said.

"Oh you aren't the only one," Nym said with a feral grin.

Sirius was practically salivating in human form at the thought of what would happen to Snape.

"You know…I think I should find it offensive that you all make it sound like I'm going to kill him," Harry interjected.

Nym gave him a disbelieving look and said, "You took off his arm for his attempted sabotage of your potion."

"I didn't do anything," Harry corrected. "My ward did all the work."

"Right," Nym said in a disbelieving tone.

"If Severus Snape is foolish enough to use me in a demonstration that is his mental deficiency issue, not mine," Harry announced.

"Marauder generation one just tortured Snape. Generation two will end Snape," Sirius said proudly with a fake tear rolling down his cheek.

"Speaking of idiots," Neville spoke up. "What is going on with the two youngest Weasleys? Molly and Arthur must have run out of the good stuff by the time they got to the last two."

Some of Nym's drink must have gone down the wrong pipe at Neville's statement. She began coughing and spluttering. When she recovered her breath she was able to speak again.

"There is a huge fight in the Wizengamot going on right now concerning if their trial should be public or private," Nym explained. "Arthur has some friends in the Wizengamot but it's all he can do to keep his wife from being arrested. Ron and Ginny both immediately stated their mother had planned the theft against your line, Harry. Their punishment could be anything at this point. My money is on banishing Ron, Ginny, and Molly to the muggle world."

"How is something like that enforced?" Dan asked.

"Well in the case of the worst offenders memories can be removed of the magical world and replaced with fabricated memories. But that really isn't as punishing as a person might think. It's harder on the families than anyone. In this case the three would likely be spelled to secrecy, their wands would be snapped, and they wouldn't be served at any wizarding establishment," Nym explained.

"Molly would have the hardest time. The woman does everything with her wand," Sirius said, not displeased at the thought.

Molly Weasley had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in her life trying to push her views onto them.

"At least the younger two would have their mother," Remus pointed out. "Though Arthur wouldn't be allowed to live with them or if he did he couldn't use magic for them."

"I think Arthur is more disgusted with their actions than the government is," Harry interjected. "That is what the twins have told me. Arthur will probably throw the lot of them out of the family."

"I must admit I have always been uneasy around Molly," Hermione admitted. "It was like she gives you a few hugs and you spend part of one holiday at her house and you were one of her children. There was no room for doing anything but what she wanted."

"I feel the same," Harry agreed.

"The whole Weasley debacle is also being pushed to the wayside by the decision on who will replace Fudge and then Fudge's trial," Nym informed her dinner companions. "I've heard talk of nominations for Rufus Scrimgeour. But I've also heard a lot more talk about Sirius' chances."

"First the idiots imprison me and spend years hunting me but then they want to elect me to lead them," Sirius grumbled in disbelief.

"Amelia seems to support you," Harry suggested.

"Damn that woman. I wish I could stay upset with her for longer," Sirius replied.

Sirius and Amelia seemed to be romantically interested in each other. They were dancing around each other and flirting. They routinely talked on instant messenger. Amelia had been helping Sirius to get his settlement from the Ministry for his wrongful imprisonment.

"You and Amelia would make a great couple," Hermione informed Sirius.

"Agreed," Harry added.

"Yes…well…we'll see," Sirius said, appearing uncomfortable with that line of topic.

"You've gone and made him blush," Remus said teasingly while grinning at his friend.

"Stuff it, Lupin. What about you? Who are you interested in?" Sirius probed.

"You know my circumstances, Sirius. Don't bring that up please," Remus replied.

"I _do_ know your circumstances. And I tell you it shouldn't matter," Sirius said in a tone that suggested this was an old argument.

"Remus," Emma spoke up. "Do you have self-confidence issues because you turn into a werewolf once a month?"

"Yes, he does," Sirius confirmed.

"You may not want to look at it this way but if you were to become involved with a non-magical girlfriend who knew about magic I should think the benefit of having a boyfriend who can do magic outweighs the necessity of him being locked up a few nights a month," Emma suggested.

Remus appeared thoughtful and was silent for several moments.

"That is actually a brilliant point," Dan agreed with his wife. "Having seen what magic can do and being non-magical ourselves we have a unique perspective."

"I don't know," Remus said. "I've been told I am undesirable so often and so long that it is very hard to think otherwise."

"Remus, could you come with me? I think I can do something about this," Harry suggested. "Dan, Emma, can I borrow your living room for a few minutes?"

"Sure, Harry," Emma agreed.

Remus hesitantly stood and followed the son of his friends.

"_What are you up to?"_ Hermione sent curiously.

"_I'm bloody good at the telepathic arts. I believe I can lessen the influence on his emotions the memories Remus has of being put down verbally,"_ Harry suggested.

"_I suppose this is one of those future abilities that redefines what I know of magic. Because what I know of magic says that a legilimens shouldn't be able to make much headway in the mind of a werewolf,"_ Hermione sent.

"_As I've mentioned before, a telepath is so much more than a legilimens or an occlumens. It combines both skills and goes much further into the astral realm. There is a bestial or primal mind that hinders a legilimens from entering a werewolf's mind. We telepaths have more finesse and can slip past the primal mind,"_ Harry explained.

"_Another skill you'll have to teach me,"_ Hermione sent.

"_All in good time, love,"_ Harry replied. Aloud he said, "Remus, what I am going to do is lessen the effects on your psyche of all the times you have been put down. Please lay on the couch and relax."

Remus looked doubtful but didn't verbally object. Remus had the same knowledge as Hermione regarding legilimens and werewolves but after all the brilliant feats Harry had performed Remus wasn't going to question Harry's capabilities at this time. Harry sat in a chair across from Remus and stared at the werewolf. Within moments Remus had his eye closed and was slipping into a semi-conscious state. Harry's eyes also closed as he performed his work on Remus. At the speed of thought the process was only a few minutes long but in that few minutes Harry grew angry on Remus' behalf. The way Remus had been treated throughout the years had Harry ready to go kick some ass. This version of Harry had much better control of himself than he did when he had really been seventeen. Remus' tormentors would still receive punishment but in a much subtler way than an overt arse kicking.

Remus did seem a changed person for the rest of the evening and was open to the idea of dating. The other guests remarked at the remarkable changes several times.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

When Snape swept into the DADA class on Monday morning there was an anticipatory mood in the classroom. Snape only had one full arm in which his wand was held. He tried to mask it but Snape kept on glancing at Harry as he began the class. It didn't take Severus long to get to what he really wanted to do.

"For our first lesson I would like to demonstrate how a duel between wizards works. Since our resident celebrity Harry Potter is such an obviously skilled dueler I would like him to duel against me during this demonstration," Snape announced while gesturing towards a dueling platform that appeared as a rune sequence was tapped on his desk.

The space at the front of the room had been expanded when the platform appeared.

"Terms," Harry prompted.

"Anything goes but Unforgivables. I want to make this as realistic as possible," Snape said with a cold grin.

"Of course," Harry agreed.

The two wizards faced each other and saluted with their wands. Then they cast. Harry side stepped two sectumsempra cutting curses and leapt over a bludgeoning curse aimed at his knees and cast a single hex designed to create the feel of being punched. The punch was so hard directly to Snape's gut that the former potion's professor was hurled back into the stone wall to the side of the dueling platform with enough force to throw him for a loop and drive the air out of his lungs. Snape cast a spell at his chest and began breathing normally and another spell at his head. Harry was impressed Snape was capable of those spells with how hard the Slytherin had hit the wall, head to stone. That kind of battlefield magic though if not applied with full concentration would ensure the caster paid later in pain and nausea. Given Snape's condition Harry suspected the spells weren't cast fully correctly.

Snape glared at Harry perhaps a bit more warily. Both duelers had been casting silently, a fact that wasn't lost upon the audience. The next spell from Snape's wand tip was a stream of violet lightning that shot towards Harry straight on. Harry didn't try to dodge. He raised his left hand and caught the lightning. The energy pooled in the time traveler's palm in a gradually darkening ball of violet energy. Snape's expression was one of pure startled shock mirrored by most of the students watching. A few seconds after the lightning spell had been cast Snape attempted quite unsuccessfully to cancel the spell.

"Potter, stop this foolishness now!" Snape shouted over the hum of the spell as the length of the lightning bolt undulated and danced from side to side and up and down at random moments, covering the whole dueling platform.

"I'm not doing anything Professor but blocking your attack," Harry assured with his most sincere expression.

But Snape had a vantage point the students watching didn't. Severus could see it in his opponent's eyes. There was a predatory gleam in Potter's gaze.

"**Potter!**" Snape bellowed just before the lightning bolt intensified in brightness until the students were forced to look away or hurt their eyes.

They heard a strangled scream and then the room fell silent. They looked back to see a charred corpse lying on the ground where Snape had been dueling. Several students threw up. Harry pulled out his mobile and sent a text message to Amelia.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

This time Amelia showed up swiftly with only three Aurors and the recognizable cloaked form of an Unspeakable. She placed her pensieve on the instructor's desk and then gestured for Harry to deposit his memory inside before turning to address the class.

"Please return to your dormitories and do not discuss the incident you witnessed today," Amelia stated.

The students left the classroom with the exception of Harry, Hermione, and Neville.

"You can come out now, Nym," Harry suggested.

Nym came out from under her invisibility cloak with a pout and said, "How did you know I was there?"

Harry just gave a roguish grin but did not answer.

"I asked Auror Tonks to monitor Snape's class for the first couple of days in this position given the incident that occurred between you two that caused him to lose his potions making ability," Amelia told Harry. "Let's view that memory."

The memory was quickly replayed.

"It was a magical accident. Snape was using some pretty dark curses in that fight against a student no less. He was out for revenge," Nym stated after the memory had played.

The Unspeakable was on the dueling platform casting various detection spells and using enchanted objects to perform diagnostics. Periodically he kept on glancing at Harry curiously. It was probably because he didn't likely detect the magic Harry had been using to defend himself. Harry had become adept over the centuries at manipulating the traces his magic left behind to look like other magic or hide his magic completely.

"I agree," Amelia told her Auror. "Snape seems unable to control himself. He was a bully. As far as I am concerned this was an accident and Mr. Potter is at no fault, case closed. I think Dumbledore will be on his way shortly. I'm honestly surprised he isn't here yet. You three return to your dorms. I doubt this will be the end of it between you and Dumbledore, Harry. But I will have a talk with him and see if I can't encourage him to see the light."

"I appreciate it, Amelia," Harry replied.

The trio left the classroom to head back towards Gryffindor tower.

"Sirius is going to be so happy," Neville declared.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Sirius didn't even have time to find out about Snape's death before shit hit the fan again. Classes had been cancelled for the day due to the death of a teacher. The school board was being called in.

Harry was sitting on the couch in the common room between Neville and Hermione while the twins prostrated themselves on the ground chanting, "We're not worthy."

Harry sensed the enraged Headmaster approaching the Fat Lady's portrait. When the portrait opened and Dumbledore came through the rage on his features was plain for all to see. The Headmaster's magic was roiling for even the weakest wizard to sense.

"You have gone too far this time, Mr. Potter. I won't allow another to go dark under my watch," Dumbledore declared with the Elder wand gripped tightly in his hand.

Then Dumbledore was casting. The stunner was meant as an opening test shot for he suspected it wouldn't be easy to take Harry Potter down. Dumbledore never realized how right his suspicions would prove. Harry moved too fast for those watching to follow. Harry caught the ridiculously supercharged stunner in his left hand and projected pure force out of his right hand in a coherent beam that Dumbledore couldn't hope to dodge. Dumbledore managed to get up a partial shield in time but that only likely saved his life. Dumbledore was sent through the tower's stone wall hurtling off far out into the Forbidden Forest which bordered the school.

Everyone but Hermione and Neville was staring at Harry in shock and awe. Harry's two best friends still had quite surprised expressions on their features.

"Bloody hell!" George Weasley finally managed to say.

"Life is never boring around you, Harry," Fred added.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

"I want Potter expelled if he isn't going to be arrested! He likely just murdered the Headmaster," Lucius Malfoy bellowed.

The Board of Governors of Hogwarts was meeting with the Deputy Headmistress and the Head of the DMLE along with the rest of the staff to discuss the current situation at Hogwarts.

"A body has not been recovered so Dumbledore is assumed alive," Amelia stated. "Additionally I viewed several pensieve memories of the incident. Dumbledore attacked Harry Potter unprovoked. This was self defense."

"Potter responded to a stunner with grievous bodily harm," Lucius argued.

"That stunner was so overcharged it would have stopped the heart of most wizards and put a lot of stronger wizards in a coma," Amelia pointed out.

Lucius opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Bill Ogdens, the current chair of the board.

"That's enough, Malfoy. The DMLE's ruling is clear in this case and therefore Potter isn't to be punished," Bill said which received nods of agreement from many on the board.

Lucius could see he didn't have enough support to get his way so shut his mouth.

"What is to be done about Dumbledore?" Mena Harker, another board member, asked Amelia.

"Unfortunately despite the fact that the stunner was visibly overpowered we can't measure strength based off of a pensieve memory. The magic Potter shot passed through Dumbledore's stunner stream and disrupted residuals so we can't prove attempted murder. The best we can prove is assault on a minor. I highly advise the board to sack him and bar him from the castle," Amelia suggested.

The board got into a heated discussion that couldn't seem to be resolved easily. The board seemed to be divided. The majority appeared to agree that Dumbledore needed sacking but with Voldemort's return it was also widely believed that the dark lord might attack the school without Dumbledore as headmaster.

"We need a powerful magic user as the head of the school," Ogdens put forth.

"We could compile a list of possible witches and wizards," Mena suggested.

"I might be of assistance," a voice said strongly from the entranceway.

Everyone in the meeting shifted their attention to the doorway and several startled exclamations were let out. Many wands were drawn and aimed at the two new arrivals. James and Lily Potter stood in the doorway holding hands. They didn't look the same age they had died at in '81 but appeared to be the age they would be if they had lived throughout the time that had passed between. But there was no mistaking them for James and Lily.

"Who are you?" Minerva demanded, her wand held steady and an angry expression on her face.

"I assure you we are James and Lily Potter," James said while drawing his own wand carefully keeping it raised. "I swear on my life and magic that I am James Ogeradon Potter and that this is my wife Lily Rose Potter nee Evans."

Those present felt the somewhat infrequently experienced wash of magic that signaled a magical oath. James cast a lumos spell just to prove he was still magical and was alive. James was in fact Harry and Lily was in fact Hermione. Live a couple hundred years and faking a magical oath would be easy.

"May we join your meeting?" Lily asked the stunned group.

"But you're dead!" Ogdens exclaimed.

"We were but then we got better," James assured as he conjured a seat for his wife and then himself.

"What are you doing here?" Minerva asked the couple.

"You have two vacant positions Lily and I would like to apply for. I dare say that with Lily, myself, and Harry in the castle Tom Riddle should think twice about attacking," James suggested.

"You want to be our headmaster and teach Defense?" Flitwick asked in surprise.

"James would be a good Headmaster and I don't think I was ever considered a slouch at Defense," Lily pointed out. "Look, our family history is between ourselves and our son. As far as we are concerned the entire magical world knows too much about us. It's frankly nobody's business outside of the family. We are both qualified for the positions. We faced Voldemort three times and walked away before Halloween '81 and that night we disembodied him for a good number of years."

"They are qualified," Minerva agreed, putting her support behind her two former students.

"We need to discuss this and vote," Ogdens stated. "Would the two candidates leave the room?"

James and Lily left and stood outside the door. Harry immediately erected powerful privacy wards and Hermione sighed with relief.

"_That was pretty nerve wracking,"_ Hermione sent to her boyfriend mentally.

"_You did brilliantly,"_ Harry praised her.

"_In there maybe I did alright,"_ Hermione allowed. _"But I don't think I'm ready to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for all seven years of Hogwarts."_

"_I think you could handle it easily despite the fact you haven't had all the years of those classes. But you won't have to. You will have a part time teaching assistant, a TA, to handle years six and seven,"_ Harry assured his mate. _"Because he is a TA and not the professor his werewolf status shouldn't be an issue."_

"_Remus is a brilliant teacher. That's such a relief. But won't he be too busy with Potter Tech issues?"_ Hermione queried.

"_No, his hours are flexible and he can hire on an assistant if it becomes necessary. Plus I have access to Kryptonian AIs that can do a lot of his work for him if he wants,"_ Harry pointed out.

Harry had recently been telling Hermione about Kryptonians and some of the amazing technology of the future.

"_I think it will be a long time before I get used to the technologies you have available to you,"_ Hermione mused. Harry didn't point out to her at that moment that she would have that time. Harry didn't think Hermione was ready for the conversation yet where she would be informed that if she desired she never had to die. Immortality would take some getting used to. _"What did Remus and Sirius think of this whole plan for us to assume your parents' identities?"_

Harry had sprung the idea of teaching under different identities on Hermione only that very day.

"_They thought it was a prank worthy of the Marauders. I don't think Remus has realized quite yet he has to see us fairly often in these forms,"_ Harry replied.

"_Yeah…that will be hard,"_ Hermione said with a wince.

Just then the door to the meeting room opened up and McGonagall requested, "Would you please rejoin us?"

Harry and Hermione entered the room and took their seats.

"Dumbledore has been sacked and banned from the school. We would like to offer you two positions here," Ogdens stated.

"Let us talk salary negotiations," Harry replied. "Perhaps the teaching staff should take their leave."

"Yes, of course," Ogdens agreed. To the staff he said, "You are dismissed."

When the staff had filed out and the door had been closed Ogdens made his initial offer.

Harry snorted and said, "That was honestly insulting."

"You have no teaching experience Mr. Potter nor does your wife," Malfoy pointed out, barely restraining a sneer at the term wife when referring to Lily.

"You have a dark lord problem. Voldemort would attack a weak Headmaster and most likely drive away your candidate. With my family in the school that won't happen," Harry countered.

"Additionally my husband and I know how to break the curse Riddle put on the DADA position," Hermione put forth.

There were definitely eager looks from some of the board members at this revelation. But they would do their best to maintain stoicism for the length of the negotiations. It was a dominance game and a matter of respect. The board didn't want to admit they needed the Potters too badly in order to assert control over the Potters and also to line their own pockets. The yearly budget also paid board member money to the board members. The more that went to the teachers and Headmaster the less the board members received. It would be a sign of weakness if the candidates were hired in at a low salary. After that information was revealed the real negotiations began.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Becoming the Headmaster of Hogwarts had been the hard part. Actually being the Headmaster was sort of anticlimactic. Harry had been headmaster in his previous life and had spent time filling in for each of his teaching positions briefly while finding new professors. The time travel aspect of leading two lives didn't actually need to be used that much. Harry created duplicates of himself and Hermione similar to what he had used to kidnap Umbridge. These duplicates were a little more sophisticated in that they were capable of simulating the appearance of more advanced spells. These duplicates involved a lot more Technomancy than Riddle's duplicate did. It was actually the duplicates who spent more time in class than Harry and Hermione. The person most likely to discover the ruse was Neville. When even Neville couldn't tell he was interacting with duplicates of his friends Harry and Hermione felt pretty confident they would pull the deception off without resorting to time travel.

Neville had of course been told soon after about the duplicates. Neville, Alice, and all of Harry and Hermione's close nit family and friends of the family were told that James and Lily really hadn't returned from the grave. But that was a closely guarded secret. Harry and Hermione had just tested the duplicates out on Neville. The really strange part for the couple was the letters. Letters of all sorts began pouring in from fans and other individuals. There were several letters from old friends of James and Lily. Sirius, Remus, and Alice proved invaluable in answering these letters because the three had been best friends of James and Lily and knew all the mutual friends. The face to face interactions with old teachers though proved to be a bit tricky to manage.

Harry and Hermione always went around with a nano-communications package (NCP) which was literally smaller than the human eye could see and hidden throughout multiple pieces of jewelry. This package had built in sensors that relayed audio and video to the receivers Sirius, Remus, and Alice had on their person at all times. With a particular signal from their magic Harry and Hermione could turn the packages on and feed their interactions with the professors to Sirius, Remus, and Alice. The response from whichever of the three responded was then relayed back to the NCP which didn't convey it to the wearer through discernible audio. The NCP conveyed the information across the surface of the skin and vibrated only the wearer's inner ear parts. So nobody present near the wearer could hear the communication. Additionally Harry's telepathy allowed him to probe the professor's thoughts without detection if Sirius, Remus, or Alice didn't know the answer when discussing some incident from the past.

Hermione's telepathy hadn't yet progressed to that stage though she was making progress. She could probe an unprotected mind but stood a good chance of being detected. This system seemed to work out pretty well. Harry was slowly introducing more and more technology from the future into the lives of his closest friends. He was also somewhat doing the same thing with Hogwarts. Potter Tech had donated several dozen computer terminals throughout the school. A large portion of the terminals were set up in the library. The muggle studies professor was being trained on them in order to incorporate them into her curriculum. In a way the computers would only promote Potter Tech products. Harry eventually hoped to get Hogwarts away from using parchment and quill and to instead using typed documents. It had happened in the future though it had taken a lot longer than Harry was hoping for.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Hermione lay in the quarters behind the headmaster's office she now shared with her boyfriend. She was currently trying to catch her breath as she came down from a really good orgasm. She had rolled off of him and was still lying partly on him with his arm behind her neck, her head resting against his shoulder.

"I needed that," Hermione managed to state.

"So did I," Harry agreed. "You looked particularly fit all day in that outfit you were wearing."

That statement would have been creepy considering only conventional magical means of masking a person's form as another and the fact that Hermione was portraying Harry's mother. The method of form mimicry being used by Harry and Hermione utilized a tiny device to enhance the inherent telekinetic abilities of the user. It would take an immensely skilled being to bend the fields of force telekinesis worked through into the contours of a human form and then maintain that form for prolonged periods of time. The telekinetic flesh also had to be pliable in real time. Lily was differently shaped than Hermione. On top of the telekinetic fields illusions had to be layered. The mimicry device used a magician's natural talents to do all of this without any conscious effort being required.

Harry and Hermione could see through the illusion field layered around the form of one another.

"Circe but you looked gorgeous as Headmaster," Hermione replied. "I barely resisted grabbing your invisibility cloak and blowing you under the table at dinner."

"That would have been so hot," Harry admitted. "Remind me to teach you a spell for better concealment tomorrow."

"I love this new aspect of our relationship…being able to openly act on our feelings as adults rather than as school children," Hermione explained.

"It is pretty great," Harry agreed. "Having our own shared quarters without having to worry about someone barging in on us is a perk."

"Like anyone could breach those wards around our bed curtains anyway," Hermione pointed out with a small grin. "Merlin himself couldn't have done it."

"Maybe we can jump back in time some day to when Merlin was still around these parts and find out," Harry mused.

Hermione sat up and stared down at Harry with wide eyes as she suddenly realized something.

"We can go back and learn so much about history," Hermione pointed out. "I only just realized the implications of the time travel techniques you have discovered."

"Someone is excited," Harry observed. "But not in the best way."

"Oh I'm excited in that way too," Hermione bantered back with a smile. "Just give me a bit to recover from that last shag. You're not exactly little you know."

"I could fix that for you," Harry offered as his right hand glowed with blue energy that Hermione recognized as healing magic.

"No, no," Hermione replied. "This is a good kind of ache. I don't want it to go away. I just need a few minutes. In the meantime we can do other things that require no talking."

Hermione proved her point with action.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

It didn't take Voldemort long to respond to the apparent return of James and Lily Potter. Two days after their return to Hogwarts and the day after the papers had announced the news Lord Voldemort strolled into the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Harry had sensed Riddle's approach a few minutes before Riddle used magic to push the doors open forcefully and dramatically. The occupants of the Great Hall were silent as they stared in shock at Voldemort except for the Headmaster and his wife. Before the screaming could even begin students and staff disappeared.

Harry had used a bit of time travel to spell the Great Hall with a bit of magic that had been triggered by his magic and willpower. The space between the tables on either side of the door had been spelled to expand to the size of the Great Hall faster than the human eye could follow. This expansion caused the space on either side to be pushed outwards. At the same time new walls were erected with a one-way transparency charm. The students were sitting behind those walls watching the events happening on the other side. The staff had been tagged with portkeys which transported them into the new rooms behind the walls. Harry had excluded himself and Hermione from the spell but Hermione's duplicate had not been excluded. Harry wanted it to appear that the three Potters were facing the dark lord.

Voldemort blinked at the suddenly empty room that had been full moments before and said, "Where did they go?"

"Don't worry about an audience, Tom," Harry said from his James form. "You don't want an audience for the arse-kicking you are about to receive."

"You are very brave impostor. You aren't James Potter. I killed James Potter!" Voldemort screamed, his tone going from calm to enraged in seconds.

"My, my, Tom," Hermione said from her Lily form. "You're awfully quick to change emotions. Dark magic can do that you know."

Horcrux creation could make a being even more unhinged than conventional dark magic.

"Shut up bint. I'll get to you in a moment. First I'm going to put down your brat and husband. You I think I will keep for a play thing. You may not be good for breeding because of your dirty blood but you would be good for screwing," Riddle stated matter-of-factly.

Hermione felt ready to vomit.

Harry's response was to send a series of curses at Riddle. Riddle shielded from several curses and sidestepped others. He responded with black magic curses in kind. Hermione cast the occasional shield spells for her boyfriend but it was more to mask the fact that he didn't need any help than anything else. Harry didn't yet want his ability to standalone best Voldemort to be revealed. Dumbledore and Voldemort had been evenly matched true but Harry was currently in the form of his father James and wanted the public to think James Potter was a bit weaker than Harry Potter. At the start of the duel the duplicate had disappeared and Riddle was too busy to look for him. Riddle certainly couldn't forget about the golem when it reappeared just as it was throwing a punch into his gut. The punch sent Riddle flying out one of the large windows at the back of the hall. Riddle kept sailing off into the distance.

"Well, I don't think he will be coming back today," Hermione mused.

The Great Hall reverted to its former state in that moment and a cheer rose up among the students and staff. Amelia and a team of Aurors stormed into the hall at that moment too with wands drawn. When Amelia saw that the threat appeared to have left she ordered her Aurors to spread out and search the school before heading towards the Headmaster. The three Potters and Hermione's duplicate met her at the head table and the Headmaster ushered them into the antechamber at the back of the hall.

"By Merlin what is going on? Hermione called me and told me Voldemort was attacking the school," Amelia said.

"You had best just watch the memory," Harry suggested from his Headmaster form.

Amelia produced her pensieve and Hermione produced a memory. Amelia watched the memory and came away pale. She looked at both versions of Harry with a new level of respect.

"Do you know how he got in?" Amelia asked.

"The wards only cover a short way into the ground," Headmaster-Harry pointed out. "He could have tunneled under them."

"We could excavate tunnels and use them to ward around the underside of the school," Amelia thought out loud.

"Too cost prohibitive," Lily-Hermione pointed out. "Besides, with James and Harry here that isn't necessary."

"You make a good point, Lily," Amelia replied. "But Harry and James can't be on guard at all times. I would rather not put the fate of all of these children on only two men no matter how powerful they are."

"Is Alastor still teaching at the Auror Academy?" James-Harry questioned, referring to Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

"Yes, he is on a part time basis," Amelia confirmed.

"Move the Auror Academy to Hogwarts. We can section off a portion of the school that we no longer use. The elves would love to have that many extra people to take care of. We wouldn't notice their presence much. Between Alastor and the other Academy instructors they could probably run Riddle off if he comes back and gets frisky. Though I daresay they won't do it with as much style as Harry and I," Headmaster-Harry suggested.

"The idea has merit. We can try it out," Amelia said. "But don't you need to talk it over with the Board?"

"Yes, but that won't take me long. I suspect they will be overjoyed to have that many extra trained wands on hand. Do you think either your cadets or instructors would mind earning a bit of extra money by privately tutoring small groups of students? I'm talking about the students that show a particular aptitude for magical combat," Headmaster-Harry inquired.

"Do you have the budget for that type of thing?" Amelia questioned.

"Hogwarts just received an anonymous donation to fund just such a thing for the duration of the war," Headmaster-Harry said with mirth dancing in his eyes.

Potter Tech was doing really well. Funding defense tutors was nothing for Harry who was already approaching his first billion not including the money he had stashed away from the future.

"How fortuitous," Amelia said. "I think the cadets would be happy to earn a little extra pocket money and you'll get them for cheaper. Plus it will reinforce their lessons to teach combat magic to others."

"I will text you when I have confirmation from the board. You can begin moving in the Academy as soon as you are able to anytime after that. The elves will have everything prepared in time," Headmaster-Harry assured.

"Good day then," Amelia replied before taking her leave.

_**HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16**_

Rev 0 Posted 11/9/2014


End file.
